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Lettuce–like, Hierarchically Porous and Nitrogen‐Doped Carbon Catalyst: As a Superb non‐Precious‐Metal Oxygen Reduction Reaction Electrocatalyst in both Alkaline and Acidic Media
Author(s) -
Yang Yan,
Zhao Ling,
Hu Xiaoli,
Guan Yue,
Xue Juanhong,
Zhu Zhen,
Cui Lili
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
chemistryselect
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 34
ISSN - 2365-6549
DOI - 10.1002/slct.201700538
Subject(s) - electrocatalyst , catalysis , porosity , chemical engineering , materials science , pyrolysis , carbon fibers , metal , specific surface area , conductivity , electrochemistry , inorganic chemistry , chemistry , electrode , composite material , organic chemistry , metallurgy , composite number , engineering
A new kind of N‐doped, hierarchically porous carbon catalyst (NHPC) derived from N‐rich space network polymers coupled with plenteous metal‐coordination sites was designed and controllably synthesized by exploiting nano‐SiO 2 as a hard‐template and pyrolyzing strategy. The characterization result demonstrates that NHPC pyrolyzed at 900 o C exhibits a hierarchically lettuce‐like architecture with high surface area (2112 m 2 g −1 ). Remarkably, the porosity structure and specific surface area (SSA) can be accessibly tailored by adjusting the density of porosity. Furthermore, the electrocatalytic activity are strongly dependent on these properties. Benefiting from the balance of high SSA, channel structures, chemical compositions and conductivity, NHPC obtained at 900 o C shows high active for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), along with excellent durability, equivalently performing the advanced Pt/C catalyst in both alkaline and acidic circumstance. The onset and half‐wave potentials of NHPC‐1:0.25‐900 display 0.97 and 0.86 V vs RHE for onset potential and half‐wave potential in alkaline medium, together with 0.85 and 0.69 V vs RHE in acidic medium.