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N,S dual-doped carbon nanosheet networks with hierarchical porosity derived from biomass of Allium cepa as efficient catalysts for oxygen reduction and Zn–air batteries

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Abstract

Efficient metal-free electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reactions (ORR) have been actively pursued in recent years to promote the application of fuel cells and metal–air batteries. In this work, hierarchically porous nitrogen and sulfur dual-doped carbon nanosheet networks (N,S-HPC) were facilely synthesized by pyrolysis of Allium cepa chips impregnated with thiourea and KOH. The as-prepared N,S-HPC featured high content of N and S dopants (5.32 at.% for N and 2.23 at.% for S, respectively), abundant catalytically active sites, unique hierarchically porous architecture, large surface area (1859 m2 g−1) and exhibited remarkable electrocatalytic activity toward ORR with positive onset/half-wave potential and large limiting diffusion current. In addition, N,S-HPC showed much better long-time stability and resistance to methanol crossover than Pt/C did. When used as the cathodic catalysts of Zn–air battery, N,S-HPC outperformed Pt/C in terms of the open-circuit potential, discharge current density, peak power density, specific capacity and rate performance, showing promise as an alternative to Pt/C for application in fuel cells and metal–air batteries.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21571148), to the Science and Technology Department of Sichuan Province (2016JY0096), to the Education Department of Sichuan Province (15TD0018) and to the China West Normal University (16E003, 17YC023, 17YC014).

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  1. Jimin Zhang and Jing He have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemical Synthesis and Pollution Control Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, China West Normal University, Nanchong, China

    Jimin Zhang, Jing He, Hongying Zheng, Rong Li & Xinglong Gou

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  1. Jimin Zhang
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10853_2020_4535_MOESM1_ESM.docx

SEM image of HPC and N-HPC, XRD and Raman of HPC, N-HPC and N,S-HPC and some additional electrochemical experimental data. (DOCX 394 kb)

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Zhang, J., He, J., Zheng, H. et al. N,S dual-doped carbon nanosheet networks with hierarchical porosity derived from biomass of Allium cepa as efficient catalysts for oxygen reduction and Zn–air batteries. J Mater Sci 55, 7464–7476 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-020-04535-4

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