A high-efficiency carbon-based metal catalyst was prepared using inexpensive raw materials anda simple synthetic method to replace the commercial platinum-based catalyst in oxygen reduction reaction(ORR). In this article, clay was used as the template, and residual organic matter after oil adsorption was usedas the carbon source and the nitrogen source, respectively. Through ion adsorption, nitrogen-doped porous carbon catalyst (Fe₃C/NC) modified by iron carbide was synthesized by high-temperature pyrolysis andetching of clay mineral template. Fe₃C/NC was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR), High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffractometer. Furtherexperiment showed that this catalyst had good electrochemical activity for ORR.

In this paper, we use the organic matter in the waste clay as the carbon source and nitrogen source and use the characteristics of clay in the waste clay to introduce iron ions into the reaction. After high-temperature calcination, we get Fe₃C/NC composite. Fe-N co-doping can expose more graphite defects and more active sites, which can also improve the electrocatalytic performance of ORR.