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Two-in-one solution using insect wings to produce graphene-graphite films for efficient electrocatalysis

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Abstract

Natural organisms contain rich elements and naturally optimized smart structures, both of which have inspired various innovative concepts and designs in human society. In particular, several natural organisms have been used as element sources to synthesize low-cost and environmentally friendly electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in fuel cells and metal–air batteries, which are clean energy devices. However, to date, no naturally optimized smart structures have been employed in the synthesis of ORR catalysts, including graphene-based materials. Here, we demonstrate a novel strategy to synthesize graphene–graphite films (GGFs) by heating butterfly wings coated with FeCl3 in N2, in which the full power of natural organisms is utilized. The wings work not only as an element source for GGF generation but also as a porous supporting structure for effective nitrogen doping, two-dimensional spreading, and double-face exposure of the GGFs. These GGFs exhibit a half-wave potential of 0.942 V and a H2O2 yield of < 0.07% for ORR electrocatalysis; these values are comparable to those for the best commercial Pt/C and all previously reported ORR catalysts in alkaline media. This two-in-one strategy is also successful with cicada and dragonfly wings, indicating that it is a universal, green, and cost-effective method for developing high-performance graphene-based materials.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Drs Qiang Wang and Wenjuan Yuan for useful discussions. This work was financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2017YFA0700104), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21601136 and 11404016), the National Program for Thousand Young Talents of China, Tianjin Municipal Education Commission, Tianjin Municipal Science and Technology Commission (No. 15JCYBJC52600), and the Fundamental Research Fund of Tianjin University of Technology. This work also made use of the resources of the National Center for Electron Microscopy in Beijing.

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  1. Huaiyu Li, Lihan Zhang, Long Li, and Chaowen Wu contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Electron Microscopy, TUT–FEI Joint Lab, Tianjin Key Lab of Advanced Functional Porous Materials, Institute for New Energy Materials & Low-Carbon Technologies, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin, 300384, China

    Huaiyu Li, Lihan Zhang, Long Li, Chaowen Wu, Yajiao Huo, Ying Chen, Xijun Liu & Jun Luo

  2. Institute of Microstructure and Property of Advanced Materials, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100124, China

    Xiaoxing Ke

  3. EMAT, Electron Microscopy for Materials Science, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020, Antwerp, Belgium

    Gustaaf Van Tendeloo

  4. Nanostructure Research Centre, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Gustaaf Van Tendeloo

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  1. Huaiyu Li
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  2. Lihan Zhang
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Correspondence to Xijun Liu, Xiaoxing Ke or Jun Luo.

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Li, H., Zhang, L., Li, L. et al. Two-in-one solution using insect wings to produce graphene-graphite films for efficient electrocatalysis. Nano Res. 12, 33–39 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-018-2172-z

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