Synthesis of Porous N-Rich Carbon/MXene from MXene@Polypyrrole Hybrid Nanosheets as Oxygen Reduction Reaction Electrocatalysts

Noble Metal-free catalysts attracted much attention as promising candidates for Pt-based catalyst replacement to advance applications related to oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), which is critical for large-scale renewable energy storage and conversion. Herein, this work focused on a synthesis of noble metal-free ORR electrocatalysts consisting of porous N-rich carbon/MXene, which was obtained using very conductive and reactive Ti₃C₂ MXene and polypyrrole (PPy) as a C and N source. The electrocatalyst exhibited excellent electrocatalytic activity and stability with an onset and a half-wave potentials equal to 0.85 and 0.71 V, respectively. Results obtained in this work demonstrate how to design efficient noble metal-free ORR electrocatalysts applicable to other chemical systems.