Highly porous composite based on tungsten carbide and N-doped carbon aerogels for electrocatalyzing oxygen reduction reaction in acidic and alkaline media

[Display omitted] •The integrative porous non-precious metal catalysts were synthesized by one-pot method, and a core-shell structure (WC@C) is formed after high temperature pyrolysis precursor.•A high activity center density (large specific surface areas) catalyst was realized by WC and N sources encapsulated into porous carbon aerogels with SiO2 as the hard template.•The ORR activity of WC@C/N/CA-850 catalyst reached 1.027V under alkaline media, which is higher than that of commercial Pt/C catalysts. Precursors of tungsten carbide/Melamine/carbon aerogels(WC@C/N/CA)porous catalysts were designed and prepared by using the porous carbon aerogels with SiO2 as the hard template and very large specific surface areas were obtained. By adding tungsten carbide, melamine and SiO2 into the early-stage phenolic resin ageing, we prepared the integrated porous catalyst precursors. The chemical state and interaction of key elements in non-Pt catalysts were regulated by high-temperature carbonization, template removal and secondary calcination. Finally, excellent non-Pt oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts were prepared. The catalyst prepared at 850°C formed a core-shell (WC@C) structure, and had good catalyst performance after 4h of secondary calcination. The ORR activity reached 1.027V under alkaline media, which is higher than that of commercial Pt/C catalysts. The high ORR activity and stability of the WC@C/N/CA catalysts were explained via X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller measurement. The specific surface area was improved because of the porous structures, resulting in the enhancement on the density of active sites.