Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 January 2013
Mesoporous carbon aerogel has been impregnated with iron (10 and 15 wt. %) as a catalyst for graphitization by wet incipient method. The iron modified and non-modified carbon aerogels were heat treated at 900°C, 1200°C, and 1400°C in argon. The crystal structure, morphology, and electro catalytic activity of the resulting nano-composites have been studied. It was found that, the degree of graphitization was proportional to the concentration of Iron phase and the ratio of iron to iron nitride phase in the heat-treated samples. In carbon aerogel sample sintered at 1200°C with 15 wt. % of iron phase, mesoporosity in the range of 3-4 nm and microporosity (< 2nm) was significantly improved by graphitization without affecting the Carbon Aerogels mesoporosity in 10-30 nm range. In this case of 15 wt. % iron doped samples, HRTEM analysis confirms the presence of uniformly distributed ∼43.5nm iron nanoparticles surrounded by graphene layers. Correspondingly, improved graphitization and presence of iron nitride resulted in 3.65 electron assisted oxygen reduction reaction.