Investigation of the oxygen reduction reaction on the carbon electrodes loaded with MnO2 catalyst

The oxygen reduction reaction has been studied on gas diffusion electrodes made with various activated carbon materials and on the edge/basal orientations of pyrolitic graphite. A MnO₂ catalyst was loaded on all carbon surfaces. The MnO₂ catalyst demonstrated significant catalytic activity for the oxygen reduction reaction. The specific catalytic activity was found to relate to the concentration of the edge orientation of carbon materials loaded with MnO₂ catalyst. The higher the percentage of edge orientations, the higher the specific catalytic activity would be. MnO₂ may not participate in the reduction of O₂, but catalyze the disproportionation of HO₂⁻.