Exploration of the active center structure of nitrogen-doped graphene-based catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction
We present two different ways to fabricate nitrogen-doped graphene (N-graphene) and demonstrate its use as a metal-free catalyst to study the catalytic active center for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). N-graphene was produced by annealing of graphene oxide (G-O) under ammonia or by annealing...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2013
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/98056 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/13284 |
| Summary: | We present two different ways to fabricate nitrogen-doped graphene (N-graphene) and demonstrate its
use as a metal-free catalyst to study the catalytic active center for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR).
N-graphene was produced by annealing of graphene oxide (G-O) under ammonia or by annealing of
a N-containing polymer/reduced graphene oxide (RG-O) composite (polyaniline/RG-O or polypyrrole/
RG-O). The effects of theNprecursors and annealing temperature on the performance of the catalyst were
investigated. The bonding state of the N atom was found to have a significant effect on the selectivity and
catalytic activity for ORR. Annealing of G-O with ammonia preferentially formed graphitic N and
pyridinic N centers, while annealing of polyaniline/RG-O and polypyrrole/RG-O tended to generate
pyridinic and pyrrolic N moieties, respectively.Most importantly, the electrocatalytic activity of the
catalyst was found to be dependent on the graphitic N content which determined the limiting current
density, while the pyridinicNcontent improved the onset potential forORR.However, the totalNcontent
in the graphene-based non-precious metal catalyst does not play an important role in the ORR process. |
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