Graphene-Directed Formation of a Nitrogen-Doped Porous Carbon Sheet with High Catalytic Performance for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Qin, Lei; Yuan, Yifei; Wei, Wei; Lv, Wei; Niu, Shuzhang; He, Yan-Bing; Zhai, Dengyun; Kang, Feiyu; Kim, Jang-Kyo; Yang, Quan-Hong; Lu, Jun

doi:10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b12327

Title: Graphene-Directed Formation of a Nitrogen-Doped Porous Carbon Sheet with High Catalytic Performance for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Journal Article · Thu Dec 28 00:00:00 EST 2017 · Journal of Physical Chemistry. C

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b12327· OSTI ID:1466292

Qin, Lei ^[1]; Yuan, Yifei ^[2]; Wei, Wei ^[3]; Lv, Wei ^[4]; Niu, Shuzhang ^[4];

^[4];

^[4]; Kang, Feiyu ^[4];

^[5];

^[6];

^[2]

Tsinghua Univ., Shenzhen (China). Graduate School at Shenzhen. Engineering Lab. for Functionalized Carbon Materials. Baotou Graphene Innovation Center (Shenzhen); The Hong Kong Univ. of Science and Technology (China). Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division
Tianjin Univ. (China). School of Chemical Engineering and Technology; Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Dalian (China). Division of Fuel Cell & Battery. Dalian National Lab. for Clean Energy. Dalian Inst. of Chemical Physics
Tsinghua Univ., Shenzhen (China). Graduate School at Shenzhen. Engineering Lab. for Functionalized Carbon Materials. Baotou Graphene Innovation Center (Shenzhen)
The Hong Kong Univ. of Science and Technology (China). Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Tianjin Univ. (China). School of Chemical Engineering and Technology

In this paper, a nitrogen (N)-doped porous carbon sheet is prepared by in situ polymerization of pyrrole on both sides of graphene oxide, following which the polypyrrole layers are then transformed to the N-doped porous carbon layers during the following carbonization, and a sandwich structure is formed. Such a sheet-like structure possesses a high specific surface area and, more importantly, guarantees the sufficient utilization of the N-doping active porous sites. The internal graphene layer acts as an excellent electron pathway, and meanwhile, the external thin and porous carbon layer helps to decrease the ion diffusion resistance during electrochemical reactions. As a result, this sandwich structure exhibits prominent catalytic activity toward the oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline media, as evidenced by a more positive onset potential, a larger diffusion-limited current, better durability and poison-tolerance than commercial Pt/C. Finally, this study shows a novel method of using graphene to template the traditional porous carbon into a two-dimensional, thin, and porous carbon sheet, which greatly increases the specific surface area and boosts the utilization of inner active sites with suppressed mass diffusion resistance.

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Research Organization:: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Tsinghua Univ., Shenzhen (China); Tianjin Univ. (China); The Hong Kong Univ. of Science and Technology (China); Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Dalian (China)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; Guangdong Natural Science Funds for Distinguished Young Scholar (China); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (China); National Basic Research Program of China; Shenzhen Basic Research Project (China); Youth Research Funds of Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua Univ. (China)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357; 2017B030306006; 21506212; 51772164; U1601206; 51525204; 2014CB932400; JCYJ20150529164918734; QN20160001

OSTI ID:: 1466292

Journal Information:: Journal of Physical Chemistry. C, Vol. 122, Issue 25; ISSN 1932-7447

Publisher:: American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 16 works

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