Renewable Porous Carbons Prepared by KOH Activation as Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalysts

doi:10.15541/jim20190036

Abstract

Abstract:

The nitrogen-doped porous carbon applied for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) has aroused extensive interests due to its unique physical and chemical properties. However, the complicated nitrogen-doping strategy and high cost limit its extensive application. In this work, a series of nitrogen-doped porous carbons were prepared by a facile pyrolysis process coupling with subsequent KOH activation using renewable N-enriched biomass potato as carbon source. Effects of activation temperature and KOH amounts on the textural properties and electrocatalytic ORR activities of the final samples were investigated in detail. The KOH activation treatment results in a high specific surface area (SSA) and hierarchical porous structure, which is beneficial for improved ORR performance. The optimized NPC-750 possesses a high SSA of 1134.2 m ²?g ^-1, developed hierarchical pores as well as moderate nitrogen content (1.57at%). It also exhibits a positive onset potential of 0.89 V (vs. RHE) and half-wave potential of 0.79 V (vs. RHE). Simultaneously, the advanced long-time stability and methanol-tolerance capacity were also obtained, implying that these biomass-derived porous carbons are potential low-cost ORR electrocatalysts. Moreover, these porous carbons show great potential in various fields including supercapacitors, adsorption/separation, catalysis and batteries as well.

Key words: biomass, porous, nitrogen-doped carbons, KOH activation, oxygen reduction reaction

CLC Number:

TQ174

HE Wang-Tao, MA Ru-Guang, ZHU Yu-Fang, YANG Ming-Jie, WANG Jia-Cheng. Renewable Porous Carbons Prepared by KOH Activation as Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalysts[J]. Journal of Inorganic Materials, 2019, 34(10): 1115-1122.

Figures/Tables 6

Fig. 1 SEM images of (a) NC and (b) NPC-750; (c) TEM and (d) HRTEM images of NPC-750 (inset in (d): corresponding SAED pattern of NPC-750)

Fig. 2 (a) Raman spectra, (b) nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms and (c) pore size distribution curves of NPCs with inset in (c) showing the enlarged part

Fig. 3 (a) XPS survey spectra of NPCs, high resolution N 1s spectra of (b) NPC-700, (c) NPC-750 and (d) NPC-800; (e) Contents of pyridinic N, graphitic N and pyrrolic N for NPCs at different activation temperature; (f) Illustration of three types of nitrogen in NPCs

Sample	SSA/(m²?g^-1)	V_Total/(cm³?g^-1)	R_pore/nm
NC	15.8	-	-
NPC-700	966.5	0.59	2.42
NPC-750	1134.2	0.70	2.46
NPC-800	1109.2	0.61	2.44

Fig. 4 (a) CV curves of NPC-750 in N2 and O2-saturated electrolyte; (b) LSV curves of all samples at 1600 r?min-1; (c) Bar plots of EOnset and EHalf-Wave for all samples; (d) LSV curves of NPC-750 at different rotating rates from 400 to 2025 r?min-1 with inset showing the corresponding Kouteckey-Levich plots at different potentials; (e) RRDE polarization curves of NPC-750 at 1600 r?min-1; (f) Electron transfer number and hydrogen peroxide yield of NPC-750 ORR performance was recorded in 0.1 mol?L-1 KOH solution

Fig. 5 (a) Long-time stability, (b) methanol-tolerance capacity of NPC-750 and Pt/C in 0.1 mol?L-1 KOH solution

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