Morphology control of Ni doped rod like MIL-88A derived FeS2 embedded in nitrogen-rich carbon as an efficient electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction

•A series of MIL-88A derived Ni doped FeS2 embedded in nitrogen rich porous carbon were synthesized.•The rGO was used for improvement of ORR behaviour of doped sulphide.•Optimized composite shows an improvement in catalytic performance with an onset potential of 0.796 V.•A low Tafel slope of ~ 63.1 mV/decade and high durability are observed for the optimized composite. The creation of cheap catalysts with an appropriate oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is a prime concern. For the first time, series of Ni-doped iron sulfide nitrogen-rich carbon derived MOF/reduced graphene oxide composites were suggested as ORR catalysts with improved performance. The electrochemical efficiency of all specimens has been evaluated on the rotating disk electrode (RDE) using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV). The optimal sample showed an improvement in catalytic performance with an onset potential of 0.796 V due to the synergistic effect and the ratio of Ni-doping that offered a direct four-electron ORR pathway, similar to commercial carbon-supported Pt catalysts. The small Tafel slope (~63.1 mV/decade) and high durability that optained could be due to the recently launched efficient active sites by structure modification with Ni integration and presence of rGO. Finding shows that outcome of this research can be employed as an efficient ORR catalyst in metal/air batteries.