Chicken feather rachis: An improvement over feather fiber derived electrocatalyst for oxygen electroreduction

Heteroatom doped carbon structures are widely recognized as efficient catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Herein, chicken feather rachis (FR), a poultry industry biowaste is explored as a novel precursor for ORR catalysis. This study comprises the effect of pyrolysis temperature on the structural characteristics and electrocatalytic performance of prepared electrocatalysts. N-doped carbon (NC) synthesized at 950 °C is further activated using KOH, ZnCl2, and H3PO4 at different temperatures. Poultry feather fiber (FF) derived samples were also prepared for comparison. KOH activated NCA-900 (NCA-K-900) exhibits the superior electrochemical performance in terms of onset potential (−0.02 V vs Ag/AgCl) in comparison to similar catalysts previously reported and prepared from feather fiber, which exhibits ~ −0.2 V vs Ag/AgCl. This is attributed to the mesoporous structure and increased ORR active CN sites in FR derived samples as confirmed by adsorption isotherm and XPS analysis, respectively. In addition, it shows 96% current stability in chronoamperometric measurements for 15 h. It is better than the previously reported electrocatalyst prepared from coconut shell (90%, 13 h) and egg yolk (91%, 9 h) respectively. Hence, this study presents an improved environment friendly substitute for ORR catalysis. [Display omitted] •Activated nitrogen doped carbon (NCA) is prepared from chicken feather rachis (FR).•FR is the central stem of feathers and is more crystalline compared to ramus (FF)•NCA is explored for improved catalysis over FF derived electrocatalysts for ORR•NCA-K-900 exhibits an onset potential (-0.02 V) and 96% current stability for 15 h•lectrochemical results are further supported by structural and chemical studie