Abstract
The development of bi-functional, non-precious and highly active catalyst has been a key challenge for the commercial application of alkaline fuel cells. In this work, fullerene iron oxide composite, derived from mineral water waste bottles, was used as a catalyst for electrodes in an alkaline fuel cell instead of platinum. The results demonstrate that an oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) was established to proceed through the efficacious four-electron reduction path, and all the reaction steps were found to be spontaneous. Interestingly, fullerene iron oxide composite is a promising electrocatalyst with bi-functional activity for ORR and oxygen evolution reaction in addition to achieving good cycling stability compared to platinum in the alkaline electrolyte.