N-Doped ordered porous carbon decorated with WN and Ni nanoparticles for enhanced electrocatalytic properties

Design of non-noble metal-based nanocatalysts supported on N-doped porous carbon is very important for electrocatalytic applications. Herein, we propose a new transition metal nitrides (TMNs) catalyst through an in-situ synthesis, in which WN and Ni nanoparticles (NPs) are uniformly anchored in N-doped ordered porous carbon (WN–Ni/NPC). N-doped porous carbon with high surface area favors electrolyte infiltration and reactants diffusion, and its three-dimensional (3D) conductive network offers fast electron transport. Moreover, doping of N element together with uniformly distributed NPs further enhance the catalytic activity towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Benefiting from the above superiorities and synergistic effect between the WN and Ni NPs, the WN–Ni/NPC shows good catalytic performance for ORR in alkaline media. The present synthetic method is highly valuable for designing N-doped porous carbon supported TMNs-based catalysts.