• Herrmann, I.; Kramm, U.I.; Radnik, J.; Fiechter, S.; Bogdanoff, P.: Influence of Sulfur on the Pyrolysis of CoTMPP as Electrocatalyst for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction. Journal of the Electrochemical Society 156 (2009), p. B1283-B1292

10.1149/1.3185852

Abstract:
The following work presents the preparation and investigation of pyrolysed Co-porphyrin as an electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduc¬tion reaction (ORR) in acid media. A new preparation method which needs no addition of carbon supports, allows the structural investigation of the pyrolysis products by XPS, Raman spectro¬scopy and X-ray diffractometry without any interferences of a carbon support. Rotating Disc Electrode measurements (RDE) reveal the high ORR activity which is mainly caused by a well developed porosity and a suitable molecular structure of the formed carbon. Thermo¬gravi¬metric in¬vestigation of the pyrolysis process shows that the addition of sul¬phur to the precursor influences the carbonization of the porphyrin in a favourable way. It has been found that extended graphene layers present a particularly suitable matrix for highly active catalytic centres.