Nitrogen-doped carbon coatings on carbon nanotubes as efficient oxygen reduction catalysts

LI Li-xiang; ZHAO Hong-wei; XING Tian-yu; GENG Xin; SONG Ren-feng; AN Bai-gang

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Article Navigation > New Carbon Mater. > 2017 > 32(5): 419-426

LI Li-xiang, ZHAO Hong-wei, XING Tian-yu, GENG Xin, SONG Ren-feng, AN Bai-gang. Nitrogen-doped carbon coatings on carbon nanotubes as efficient oxygen reduction catalysts. New Carbon Mater., 2017, 32(5): 419-426.

Citation:

LI Li-xiang, ZHAO Hong-wei, XING Tian-yu, GENG Xin, SONG Ren-feng, AN Bai-gang. Nitrogen-doped carbon coatings on carbon nanotubes as efficient oxygen reduction catalysts. New Carbon Mater., 2017, 32(5): 419-426.

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Nitrogen-doped carbon coatings on carbon nanotubes as efficient oxygen reduction catalysts

1.
School of Chemical Engineering, University of Science and Technology Liaoning, Anshan 114051, China;
2.
Institute of Materials Electrochemistry Research, University of Science and Technology Liaoning, Anshan 114051, China;
3.
Ansteel Mining Engineering Corporation, Anhsan 114004, China

Funds: The project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (5162117, 50801035); Innovative Research Team in Colleges and Universities of Liaoning Province, China (LT2014007); Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province, China (201502063); Education department of Liaoning Province, China (2016TSZD01).

Received Date: 2017-08-06
Accepted Date: 2017-11-13
Rev Recd Date: 2017-10-09
Publish Date: 2017-10-28

Abstract

Abstract

Polypyrrole-coated carbon nanotubes (PPy-CNTs) synthesized by an in-situ chemical polymerization approach were heat-treated at 600, 800 and 1 000℃ in N₂ to prepare N-doped carbon coatings on CNTs (NC-CNTs). The specific surface area (SSA) and pore volume of the NC-CNTs increase significantly with heat treatment temperature and the nitrogen content decreases. Also, as the temperature increases the content of pyrrolic-N decreases while that of the graphitic-N increases. The SSA and pore volume of the NC-CNT1000 are 3 and 1.7 times higher than those of the NC-CNT600. As metal free electrocatalysts, the NC-CNTs show significant ORR activity in a basic electrolyte, but it is not proportional to their total nitrogen content. The ORR mechanism of the NC-CNT600 and NC-CNT800 belongs to a two-electron transfer reaction while that of the NC-CNT1000 to a mixture of the two-electron and four-electron transfer reactions. The NC-CNT1000 exhibits the best ORR activity and durability among the samples owing to its highest SSA and pore volume as well as having the largest amount of graphitic-N.
- Nitrogen doping,
- Carbon nanotubes,
- Oxygen reduction,
- Nitrogen containing functional groups

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References(33)

References

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