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Carbon Nanotube/Boron Nitride Nanocomposite as a Significant Bifunctional Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Reduction and Oxygen Evolution Reactions
Author(s) -
Patil Indrajit M.,
Lokanathan Moorthi,
Ganesan Balakrishnan,
Swami Anita,
Kakade Bhalchandra
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201604231
Subject(s) - bifunctional , overpotential , electrocatalyst , materials science , nanocomposite , catalysis , carbon nanotube , oxygen evolution , chemical engineering , graphene , boron nitride , electrochemistry , methanol , bifunctional catalyst , nanotechnology , chemistry , electrode , organic chemistry , engineering
Abstract It is an immense challenge to develop bifunctional electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reactions (ORR) and oxygen evolution reactions (OER) in low temperature fuel cells and rechargeable metal–air batteries. Herein, a simple and cost‐effective approach is developed to prepare novel materials based on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and a hexagonal boron nitride (h‐BN) nanocomposite (CNT/BN) through a one‐step hydrothermal method. The structural analysis and morphology study confirms the formation of a homogeneous composite and merging of few exfoliated graphene layers of CNTs on the graphitic planes of h‐BN, respectively. Moreover, the electrochemical study implies that CNT/BN nanocomposite shows a significantly higher ORR activity with a single step 4‐electron transfer pathway and an improved onset potential of +0.86 V versus RHE and a current density of 5.78 mA cm −2 in alkaline conditions. Interestingly, it exhibits appreciably better catalytic activity towards OER at low overpotential ( η =0.38 V) under similar conditions. Moreover, this bifunctional catalyst shows substantially higher stability than a commercial Pt/C catalyst even after 5000 cycles. Additionally, this composite catalyst does not show any methanol oxidation reactions that nullify the issues due to fuel cross‐over effects in direct methanol fuel cell applications.