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A nitrogen-doped electrocatalyst from metal-organic framework-carbon nanotube composite

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Abstract

Replacing precious and nondurable platinum-based catalysts by economical and commercially available materials is a key issue addressed in contemporary fuel cell technology. Carbon-based nanomaterials display great potential to improve fuel tolerance and reduce the cost and stress on metal scalability. However, their relatively low catalytic activity limits the development and application of these catalysts. In this study, we have synthesized a nitrogen-doped carbon electrocatalyst from metal-organic frameworks and carbon nanotube composites, taking advantage of the existing N in the organic linker in the MOFs with more N added through ammonia treatment. The morphology and composition of synthesized catalysts were characterized by SEM, TEM, XPS, and Raman. The derived catalyst exhibited superior catalytic activity than that of commercial Pt-based catalysts. The N enriched carbon catalyst with high surface area, a graphitic carbon skeleton, and a hierarchical porous structure facilitated the mass and charge transfer during electrolysis.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by the Australia Research Council Future Fellowship (FT120100720). The authors acknowledge the facilities, and the scientific and technical assistance, of the Australian Microscopy & Microanalysis Research Facility at the Center for Microscopy and Microanalysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Future Materials, University of Southern Queensland, Springfield Campus, Queensland, 4300, Australia

    Lei Ge & Hao Wang

  2. School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4072, Australia

    Lei Ge, Rijia Lin & Zhonghua Zhu

Authors
  1. Lei Ge
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  2. Rijia Lin
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  3. Zhonghua Zhu
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  4. Hao Wang
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Lei Ge or Hao Wang.

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Supporting information: A nitrogen-doped electrocatalyst from metal-organic framework-carbon nanotube composite (approximately 2.97 MB)

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Ge, L., Lin, R., Zhu, Z. et al. A nitrogen-doped electrocatalyst from metal-organic framework-carbon nanotube composite. Journal of Materials Research 33, 538–545 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2017.416

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