Polyaniline-Derived Ordered Mesoporous Carbon as an Efficient Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Catalysts

Kai Wan²  Zhi-Peng Yu²  Zhen-Xing Liang¹ 

[1] Key Laboratory on Fuel Cell Technology of Guangdong Province, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, China;

关键词: ammonia-activation;    electrocatalysis;    fuel cells;    nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon;    oxygen reduction reaction;   

DOI  :  10.3390/catal5031034

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Nitrogen-doped ordered mesoporous carbon was synthesized by using polyaniline as the carbon source and SBA-15 as the template. The microstructure, composition and electrochemical behavior were extensively investigated by the nitrogen sorption isotherm, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry and rotating ring-disk electrode. It is found that the pyrolysis temperature yielded a considerable effect on the pore structure, elemental composition and chemical configuration. The pyrolysis temperature from 800 to 1100 °C yielded a volcano-shape relationship with both the specific surface area and the content of the nitrogen-activated carbon. Electrochemical tests showed that the electrocatalytic activity followed a similar volcano-shape relationship, and the carbon catalyst synthesized at 1000 °C yielded the best performance. The post-treatment in NH₃ was found to further increase the specific surface area and to enhance the nitrogen doping, especially the edge-type nitrogen, which favored the oxygen reduction reaction in both acid and alkaline media. The above findings shed light on electrocatalysis and offer more strategies for the controllable synthesis of the doped carbon catalyst.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.