Advances in Carbon-Incorporated Non-Noble Transition Metal Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells Tai-Feng Hung, a Syuan-Hong Chen, a Meng-Hsiu Tu, a Zhi-Hsiang Lu, a Chih Kai Chen, a Ru-Shi Liu, a, * Heather F. Greer, b Wuzong Zhou b and Man-Yin Lo c a National Taiwan University, Department of Chemistry, Taipei 106, Taiwan b University of St Andrews, EaStChem, School of Chemistry, St Andrews, KY16 9ST, Scotland, UK c Industrial Technology Research Institute, Material and Chemical Research Laboratories, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan (Received: Jun. 4, 2013; Accepted: Jul. 30, 2013; Published Online: ??; DOI: 10.1002/jccs.201300286) Considerable efforts have been exerted in the development of non-noble metal catalysts (NNMCs) for ox- ygen reduction reaction (ORR) in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs). The effects of the preparation strategy, including carbon support, metal and nitrogen precursors, as well as heat-treatment conditions, on the ORR activity for such NNMCs have also been extensively explored. In this review, we mainly focused on the recent advances in carbon-incorporated NNMCs, specifically carbon-incorporated iron nitride (FeCN)-based catalysts. Influences of pyrolysis temperature on the crystalline and local structures, chem- ical environment, morphology, and ORR activity of FeCN-based catalysts were discussed, and the ORR mechanism was also proposed. Keywords: Non-noble metal catalysts; Iron nitride; Cathode; Oxygen reduction reaction; Polymer electrolyte fuel cells. J. Chin. Chem. Soc. 2013, 60, 000-000 © 2013 The Chemical Society Located in Taipei & Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim 1 JOURNAL OF THE CHINESE Mini Review CHEMICAL SOCIETY Special Issue for the 60th Anniversary of Journal of the Chinese Chemical Society * Corresponding author. Tel: +886-2-33661169; Fax: +886-2-33668671; Email: rsliu@ntu.edu.tw Dr. Tai-Feng Hung received his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from Chung Yuan Christian University in 2009. After joining Prof. Ru-Shi Liu’s group in National Taiwan Univer- sity as the postdoctoral fellow, his research interests were concentrated on developing various nanocatalysts for hydrogen generation, oxygen reduction reaction in fuel cells and lithium-oxygen batteries applications. Dr. Ru-Shi Liu is currently a professor at the Department of Chemistry, National Tai- wan University. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry from Shoochow Uni- versity (Taiwan) in 1981. He received his Master’s Degree in Nuclear Science from the National TsingHua University (Taiwan) in 1983. He obtained two PhDs in Chemistry: one from National TsingHua University in 1990 and another from the University of Cambridge in 1992. He worked at Materials Research Laboratories at the Industrial Technology Research Institute from 1983 to 1985. He was an associate professor at the Department of Chemistry of National Taiwan University from 1995 to 1999, and was promoted to professorship in 1999. His research concerns the field of Materials Chem- istry. He is an author or coauthor of more than 400 studies published in scientific in- ternational journals. He has also been granted more than 80 patents.