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The Effects of a Low-Level Boron, Phosphorus, and Nitrogen Doping on the Oxygen Reduction Activity of Ordered Mesoporous Carbons

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Abstract

In order to elucidate the role of B, N, and P dopants in carbon materials on the kinetics of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and to provide a fair comparison of the effects of each dopant, a series of ordered mesoporous carbons (OMCs) with low concentration of heteroatoms (<1 at%) has been prepared. Doped OMCs were characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), and N2 physisorption measurements. Comparative study of the ORR activity of these materials in alkaline solution was performed using rotating disk electrode voltammetry. The experiments evidenced that, compared to non-doped OMC, charge transfer kinetics was improved independently on the nature of the heteroatom. The decrease of the ORR overvoltage and the increase of the mass activity upon doping are similar for B and P and less prominent for N. On the other hand, OMCs doped with low levels of B and N were found to be selective for O2 reduction to peroxide, while for P-doped OMCs, the apparent number of electrons consumed per O2 molecule was up to 3.1. Experimental measurements were complemented by density functional theory (DFT) calculations.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development through the projects III45014 and III45012. I.A.P., N.M.G., A.D, and S.V.M. are indebted for financial support by NATO, provided through the NATO multi-year Science for Peace Project EAP.SFPP 984925—“DURAPEM—Novel Materials for Durable Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells.”

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Physical Chemistry, University of Belgrade, Studentski trg 12-16, 11158, Belgrade, Serbia

    Igor A. Pašti, Nemanja M. Gavrilov, Ana S. Dobrota, Gordana Ćirić-Marjanović & Slavko V. Mentus

  2. Institute of Nuclear Sciences “Vinča”, University of Belgrade, P. O. Box 522, 11000, Belgrade, Serbia

    Milan Momčilović, Marija Stojmenović & Biljana Babić

  3. Department of Interface Chemistry and Surface Engineering, Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH, Max-Planck-Straße 1, 40237, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Angel Topalov

  4. Innovation Center of the Faculty of Chemistry, University of Belgrade, Studentski trg 12-16, 11000, Belgrade, Serbia

    Dalibor M. Stanković

  5. Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Knez Mihajlova 35, 11000, Belgrade, Serbia

    Slavko V. Mentus

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  1. Igor A. Pašti
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  2. Nemanja M. Gavrilov
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Correspondence to Igor A. Pašti.

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Pašti, I.A., Gavrilov, N.M., Dobrota, A.S. et al. The Effects of a Low-Level Boron, Phosphorus, and Nitrogen Doping on the Oxygen Reduction Activity of Ordered Mesoporous Carbons. Electrocatalysis 6, 498–511 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12678-015-0271-0

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