Abstract

The alkaline anion exchange membrane fuel cell (AEMFC) is one of the green solutions for the growing need for energy conversion technologies. For the first time, we propose a natural shungite based non-precious metal catalyst (NPMC) as an alternative cathode catalyst to Pt-based materials for AEMFCs application. The Co and Fe phthalocyanine (Pc)-modified shungite materials were prepared via pyrolysis and used for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) studies. The most promising ORR performance was observed in alkaline media for FePc-modified and acid-leached shungite-based NPMC material. The catalysts were also evaluated as cathode materials in a single cell AEMFC and peak power densities of 232 and 234 mW cm−2 at 60 °C using H2 and O2 gases at 100% RH were observed for CoPc- and FePc-modified acid-treated materials, respectively.