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Metal-free porous nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes for enhanced oxygen reduction and evolution reactions

高活性的非金属多孔氮掺杂碳纳米管氧还原及析氧反应催化剂

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  • Chemistry
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Science Bulletin

Abstract

Developing efficient metal-free bi-functional electrocatalysts is required to reduce costs and improve the slow oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) kinetics in electrochemical systems. Porous N-doped carbon nanotubes (NCNTs) were fabricated by KOH activation and pyrolysis of polypyrrole nanotubes. The NCNTs possessed a large surface area of more than 1,000 m2 g−1. NCNT electrocatalysts, particularly those annealed at 900 °C, exhibited excellent ORR electrocatalytic performance. Specifically, they yielded a more positive onset potential, higher current density, and long-term operation stability in alkaline media, when compared with a commercially available 20 wt% Pt/C catalyst. This resulted from the synergetic effect between the dominant pyridinic/graphitic-N species and the porous tube structures. The NCNT electrocatalyst also exhibited good performance for the OER. The metal-free porous nitrogen-doped carbon nanomaterials were prepared from low cost and environmentally friendly precursors. They are potential alternatives to Pt/C catalysts, for electrochemical energy conversion and storage.

摘要

电化学体系中的氧还原反应(ORR)和析氧反应(OER)受到反应动力学缓慢和催化剂成本昂贵的制约,成为了燃料电池性能和规模化应用的主要瓶颈。因此,研究开发廉价、高效的非金属双功能催化剂仍然是一项具有挑战性的工作。本文以聚吡咯纳米管为前驱体,通过氢氧化钾活化和高温煅烧,成功获得了比表面积高达1000 m2 g−1的氮掺杂多孔碳纳米管(NCNTs)。由于NCNTs中的高含量吡啶氮/石墨氮的催化活性作用,以及NCNTs中多孔结构和管状结构的共同作用,NCNTs,尤其是NCNT-900,在碱性体系中表现出优异的ORR和ORE活性。此外,NCNT-900还表现出良好的循环稳定性、高的耐甲醇和CO毒性。该氮掺杂的碳纳米电催化剂制备方法简单、成本低廉、性能优异,有望成为代替Pt/C的催化剂用于电化学能量的转换技术。

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51273008, 51473008), and the National Basic Research Program of China (2012CB933200).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Environment Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing, 100083, China

    Ting Pan & Hongying Liu

  2. Key Laboratory of Bio-inspired Smart Interfacial Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Environment, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China

    Ting Pan, Guangyuan Ren, Yunan Li, Xianyong Lu & Ying Zhu

  3. School of Chemistry, Biology and Material Science, East China University of Technology, Nanchang, 330013, China

    Guangyuan Ren

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  1. Ting Pan
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  2. Hongying Liu
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Correspondence to Xianyong Lu or Ying Zhu.

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Pan, T., Liu, H., Ren, G. et al. Metal-free porous nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes for enhanced oxygen reduction and evolution reactions. Sci. Bull. 61, 889–896 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-016-1073-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-016-1073-3

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