| Summary: | Large quantities of marine algae are annually produced, and have been disposed or burned as solid waste. In this work, porous carbons were prepared from three kinds of marine algae (<i>Enteromorpha</i>, <i>Laminaria</i>, and <i>Chlorella</i>) by a two-step activation process. The as-prepared carbon materials were doped with cobalt (Co) and applied as catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Our results demonstrated that Co-doped porous carbon prepared from <i>Enteromorpha</i> sp. (denoted by Co-PKEC) displayed excellent catalytic performance for ORR. Co-PKEC obtained a half-wave potential of 0.810 V (vs. RHE) and a maximum current density of 4.41 mA/cm<sup>2</sup>, which was comparable to the commercial 10% Pt/C catalyst (E<sub>1/2</sub> = 0.815 V, J<sub>d</sub> = 4.40 mA/cm<sup>2</sup>). In addition, Co-PKEC had excellent long-term stability and methanol resistance. The catalytic ability of Co-PKEC was evaluated in a one-chamber glucose fuel cell. The maximum power density of the fuel cell equipped with the Co-PKEC cathode was 33.53 W/m<sup>2</sup> under ambient conditions, which was higher than that of the fuel cell with a 10% Pt/C cathode. This study not only demonstrated an easy-to-implement approach to prepare robust electrochemical catalyst from marine algal biomass, but also provided an innovative strategy for simultaneous waste remediation and value-added material production.
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