A promising N-doped carbon-metal oxide hybrid electrocatalyst derived from crustacean’s shells: Oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution

[Display omitted] •The chitosan which obtained from Crustacean’s Shells is converted into N-doped Carbon (NC).•The obtained NC exhibits outstanding activity and durability for OER and ORR compared to Pt/C.•NC catalyst has a higher poison-tolerant against various type of impurities compared to Pt/C.•Further modification of NC with Nd2O3 nanostructured resulted in a significant improvement.•NC/Nd2O3 catalyst delivered outstanding power density (∼287mWcm2). The development of efficient and durable Pt-free catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is extremely important to realize the world-wide commercialization of the clean energy technologies obstructed by the high cost and scarcity of the Pt-based catalysts. As a potential alternative to such catalysts, this investigation addresses the facile synthesis of an efficient, durable and highly poison-tolerant metal-free N-doped carbon-Nd2O3 hybrid bifunctional electro-catalyst for ORR and water splitting compared to commercial Pt/C catalyst. Chitosan obtained from crustacean’s shells assists to yield a nitrogen-doped graphitic structure with superior activity and durability for ORR. Nd2O3/NC shows a high tolerance towards crossover of various anodic fuels concurrent with high poisoning tolerance against various hydrocarbon impurities in-situ generated during fuel cell operation. H2-air single cell tests using Nd2O3/NC as cathode catalyst delivered outstanding power density (∼287mW cm2) and current density (∼572mAcm−2) at 0.6V. The superior electro-catalytic activity and durability of the as-prepared catalysts mainly originates from the synergistic effects between Nd2O3nano particles and the nitrogen-doped graphitic structure. The facile synthesis method and the high performance together with low-cost of our suggested Pt-free catalyst make it as a promising alternative for the commercial Pt/C.