Boron- and Nitrogen-Substituted Graphene Nanoribbons as Efficient Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Gong, Yongji; Fei, Huilong; Zou, Xiaolong; Zhou, Wu; Yang, Shubin; Ye, Gonglan; Liu, Zheng; Peng, Zhiwei; Lou, Jun; Vajtai, Robert; Yakobson, Boris I.; Tour, James M.; Ajayan, Pulickel M.

doi:10.1021/cm5037502

Title: Boron- and Nitrogen-Substituted Graphene Nanoribbons as Efficient Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Journal Article · Mon Feb 02 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Chemistry of Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/cm5037502· OSTI ID:1185918

Gong, Yongji ^[1]; Fei, Huilong ^[1]; Zou, Xiaolong ^[1]; Zhou, Wu ^[2]; Yang, Shubin ^[3]; Ye, Gonglan ^[1]; Liu, Zheng ^[1]; Peng, Zhiwei ^[1]; Lou, Jun ^[1]; Vajtai, Robert ^[1]; Yakobson, Boris I. ^[1]; Tour, James M. ^[1]; Ajayan, Pulickel M. ^[1]

Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States)
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States); Beihang Univ., Beijing (China)

Here, we show that nanoribbons of boron- and nitrogen-substituted graphene can be used as efficient electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Optimally doped graphene nanoribbons made into three-dimensional porous constructs exhibit the highest onset and half-wave potentials among the reported metal-free catalysts for this reaction and show superior performance compared to commercial Pt/C catalyst. Moreover, this catalyst possesses high kinetic current density and four-electron transfer pathway with low hydrogen peroxide yield during the reaction. Finally, first-principles calculations suggest that such excellent electrocatalytic properties originate from the abundant edges of boron- and nitrogen-codoped graphene nanoribbons, which significantly reduce the energy barriers of the rate-determining steps of the ORR reaction.

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Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725; DMR-0928297; W911NF-11-1-032; FA9550-09-1-0581; FA9550-12-1-0035; N000014-09-1-1066; OCI-0959097

OSTI ID:: 1185918

Journal Information:: Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 27, Issue 4; ISSN 0897-4756

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 200 works

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