Recent Advances in Enhancing Oxygen Reduction Reaction Performance for Non-Noble-Metal Electrocatalysts Derived from Electrospinning

Carbonaceous materials originated from electrospinning fibers with hierarchical porosity and good conductivity have attracted intensive attention in the field of electrocatalysis, especially for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Large batches of fibers with uniform sizes can be easily fabricated by electrospinning technology as the precursors of carbon fibers, manifesting the potential to develop a large-scale, low-cost, high-activity ORR catalyst production line for new energy devices such as fuel cells and metal-air batteries. Herein, based on a simple understanding of the ORR mechanism and electrospinning technology, those investigations on synthesizing non-noble-metal ORR catalysts through electrospinning in recent years are reviewed. The advantages brought by applying electrospinning technology to the preparation of ORR catalysts are briefly explained. Electrospinning fibers with specific structures for ORR catalysis obtained by innovated spinnerets are displayed. Importantly, the strategies of improving ORR performance for electrospinning fibers through substrate functionalization and active site regulation are discussed in detail. Finally, the prospects and challenges of developing electrospinning technology applied to non-noble metal ORR electrocatalysis are proposed.