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Nitrogen-doped graphene-supported molybdenum dioxide electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction

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Abstract

A simple one-step pyrolysis strategy has been developed to prepare molybdenum dioxide supported on nitrogen-doped graphene (MoO2/NG) as electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reactions (ORR). Homogeneous anchoring of MoO2 nanoparticles on nitrogen-doped graphene was achieved for the composite synthesized at 500 °C (MoO2/NG-500). For the first time, the MoO2/NG composite manifests considerable electrocatalytic activity for ORR in alkaline solution, with the onset potential of 0.91 V and the peak potential of 0.73 V. Furthermore, the MoO2/NG catalyst outperforms commercial Pt/C catalyst in terms of the electrochemical durability for ORR. The facile fabrication, reasonable ORR activity and excellent stability endow our MoO2/NG catalyst with great promise in application of cost-effective fuel cells.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51605293, 51702213), Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (16ZR1423500), Shanghai Pujiang Program (17PJ1406900) and The Program for Associate Professor of Special Appointment (Young Eastern Scholar) at Shanghai Institutions of Higher Learning (QD2016013).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, China

    Pingwei Li, Xuying Yin, Ya Yan, Ke Zhan, Junhe Yang & Bin Zhao

  2. Shanghai Innovation Institute for Materials, Shanghai, 200444, China

    Ya Yan, Junhe Yang & Bin Zhao

  3. National Engineering Laboratory for Hydrometallurgical Cleaner Production Technology, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Jianqiang Li

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  1. Pingwei Li
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  2. Xuying Yin
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  4. Ke Zhan
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  5. Junhe Yang
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Correspondence to Bin Zhao or Jianqiang Li.

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Li, P., Yin, X., Yan, Y. et al. Nitrogen-doped graphene-supported molybdenum dioxide electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction. J Mater Sci 53, 6124–6134 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-017-1972-y

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