Considering the intrinsic activity of non-precious metal oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts is typically lower than that of precious metal catalysts, it is crucial to focus on the rational design of their micro-morphology and active site. This paper employed a simple molten salt-mediated template method to fabricate a Fe3C composite N-doped C catalyst with a layered porous framework ( Fe3C@NC). Tannic acid was utilized to form a strong coordination with iron to limit the grain size of Fe3C nanocrystals generated by high-temperature pyrolysis. Moreover, urea achieved nitrogen doping in tannic acidderived porous carbon, while the graphite phase nitrogen-doped carbon (g-C3N4) formed by its pyrolysis, together with the molten salt-mediated environment, jointly controlled the two-dimensional sheet-like structure of the material. The optimized Fe3C@ NC-800 demonstrated efficient ORR performance, with an ORR half-wave potential of 0.883 V. Its application as a cathode catalyst in a liquid zinc-air battery (ZABs) exhibits a maximum power density of 211.5 mW cm− 2, surpassing that of a Pt/C-based ZAB and indicating the potential practical utility of this material.

Porous nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheets composite Fe3C synthesized by molten salt-mediated template method as efficient ORR catalyst for zinc-air batteries
    Abstract
    1 Introduction
    2 Experimental section
        2.1 Materials
        2.2 Synthesis of Fe3C@NC-800
    3 Results and discussion
    4 Conclusion
    Acknowledgements 
    References

• Qing Long(Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Advanced Carbon‑Based Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology, Yueyang 414006, People’s Republic of China)
• Qianqi Wu(Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Advanced Carbon‑Based Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology, Yueyang 414006, People’s Republic of China)
• Zhiming Wen(Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Advanced Carbon‑Based Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology, Yueyang 414006, People’s Republic of China)
• Wei Wang(Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Advanced Carbon‑Based Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology, Yueyang 414006, People’s Republic of China) Corresponding author
• Chen Li(Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Advanced Carbon‑Based Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology, Yueyang 414006, People’s Republic of China)
• Huichuan Tang(Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Advanced Carbon‑Based Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology, Yueyang 414006, People’s Republic of China)
• Junlin Huang(Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Advanced Carbon‑Based Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology, Yueyang 414006, People’s Republic of China)
• Liang Chen(Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Advanced Carbon‑Based Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology, Yueyang 414006, People’s Republic of China)
• Gangyong Li(Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Advanced Carbon‑Based Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology, Yueyang 414006, People’s Republic of China)
• Wenyuan Xu(Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Advanced Carbon‑Based Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology, Yueyang 414006, People’s Republic of China)
• Haitao Wang(School of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Novel Catalytic Materials of Hubei Engineering Research Center, Engineering Research Center of Phosphorus Resources Development andUtilization of Ministry of Education, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430205, People’s Republic of China)