N-Doped Porous Carbon from Sargassum spp. as Efficient Metal-Free Electrocatalysts for O2 Reduction in Alkaline Fuel Cells

Energies

卷:12

Patricia Quintana¹  Romeli Barbosa²  ArunachalaMada Kannan³  Xuan Shi³  Beatriz Escobar⁴  K.Y. Pérez-Salcedo⁵ 

[1] Departamento de Física Aplicada, Cinvestav Unidad-Mérida, Mérida, Yucatán 97310, Mexico;

[2] División de Ciencias e Ingeniería, Universidad de Quintana Roo, Chetumal, Quintana Roo 77019, Mexico;

[3] Fuel Cell Laboratory, Arizona State University, Mesa, AZ 85212, USA;

[4] Unidad de Energía Renovable, Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán, Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, Mérida, Yucatán 97302, Mexico;

[5] Unidad de Energía Renovable, Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán, Mérida, Yucatán 97302, Mexico;

关键词: N-doped porous carbon;    Sargassum spp.;    oxygen reduction reaction;    alkaline fuel cell;   

DOI  :  10.3390/en12030346

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

This work reports the synthesis of N-doped porous carbon (NPC) with a high surface area from Sargassum spp. as a low-cost alternative for electrocatalyst production for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Sargassum spp. was activated with potassium hydroxide at different temperatures (700, 750, and 800 °C) and then doped with pyridine (N700, N750, and N800). As a result of the activation process, the 800 °C sample showed a high surface area (2765 m² g⁻¹) and good onset potential (0.870 V) and current density (4.87 mA cm⁻²). The ORR performance of the electrocatalysts in terms of their current density was N800 > N750 > N700 > 750 > 800 > 700, while the onset potential decreased in the following order: N800 > 800 > 750 > 700 > N700 > N750. The fuel cell performance of the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) prepared with electrocatalyst synthesized at 750 °C and doped with pyridine was 12.72 mW cm⁻², which was close to that from Pt/C MEA on both the anode and cathode (14.42 mW cm⁻²). These results indicate that NPCs are an alternative to the problem of Sargassum spp. accumulation in the Caribbean due to their high efficiency as electrocatalysts for ORR.

【 授权许可】

Unknown