Premium
Polymer‐Assisted Electrophoretic Synthesis of N‐Doped Graphene‐Polypyrrole Demonstrating Oxygen Reduction with Excellent Methanol Crossover Impact and Durability
Author(s) -
Mohmad Ghulam,
Sarkar Subhajit,
Biswas Ashmita,
Roy Kingshuk,
Dey Ramendra Sundar
Publication year - 2020
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.202002526
Subject(s) - polypyrrole , graphene , catalysis , materials science , exfoliation joint , chemical engineering , methanol , graphite , electrochemistry , polymer , graphitic carbon nitride , inorganic chemistry , nanotechnology , chemistry , organic chemistry , electrode , composite material , polymerization , engineering , photocatalysis
The design and synthesis of metal‐free catalysts with superior electrocatalytic activity, high durability, low cost, and under mild conditions is extremely desirable but remains challenging. To address this problem, a polymer‐assisted electrochemical exfoliation technique of graphite in the presence of an aqueous acidic medium is reported. This simple, cost‐effective, and mass‐scale production approach could open the possibility for the synthesis of high‐quality nitrogen‐doped graphene–polypyrrole (NG‐PPy). The NG‐PPy catalyst displays an improved half wave potential ( E 1/2 =0.77 V) in alkaline medium compared with G‐PPy ( E 1/2 =0.66 V). Most importantly, this catalyst demonstrates excellent stability with high methanol tolerance, and it outperforms the commercial Pt/C catalyst and other previously reported metal‐free catalysts. The content of graphitic nitrogen atoms is the key factor for the enhancement of electrocatalytic activity towards oxygen reduction reactions (ORR). Interestingly, the NG‐PPy catalyst can be used as a cathode material in a zinc–air battery, which demonstrates a higher peak power density (59 mW cm −2 ) than G‐PPy (36.6 mW cm −2 ), highlighting the importance of the low‐cost material synthesis approach towards the development of metal‐free efficient ORR catalysts for fuel cell and metal–air battery applications. Remarkably, the polymer‐assisted electrophoretic exfoliation of graphite with a high yield (≈88 wt %) of few‐layer graphene flakes could pave the way towards the mass production of high‐quality graphene for a variety of applications.