Electrocatalysts are required for clean energy technologies (for example, water‐splitting and metal‐air batteries). The development of a multifunctional electrocatalyst composed of nitrogen, phosphorus, and fluorine tri‐doped graphene is reported, which was obtained by thermal activation of a mixture of polyaniline‐coated graphene oxide and ammonium hexafluorophosphate (AHF). It was found that thermal decomposition of AHF provides nitrogen, phosphorus, and fluorine sources for tri‐doping with N, P, and F, and simultaneously facilitates template‐free formation of porous structures as a result of thermal gas evolution. The resultant N, P, and F tri‐doped graphene exhibited excellent electrocatalytic activities for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The trifunctional metal‐free catalyst was further used as an OER–HER bifunctional catalyst for oxygen and hydrogen gas production in an electrochemical water‐splitting unit, which was powered by an integrated Zn–air battery based on an air electrode made from the same electrocatalyst for ORR. The integrated unit, fabricated from the newly developed N, P, and F tri‐doped graphene multifunctional metal‐free catalyst, can operate in ambient air with a high gas production rate of 0.496 and 0.254 μL s−1for hydrogen and oxygen gas, respectively, showing great potential for practical applications.
- Award ID(s):
- 1709031
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10196086
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Environmental Science: Nano
- Volume:
- 6
- Issue:
- 12
- ISSN:
- 2051-8153
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 3525 to 3538
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract -
Rational design and facile preparation of non-noble trifunctional electrocatalysts with high performance, low cost and strong durability for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) are highly demanded, but remain as a big challenge. Herein, we report a spontaneous gas-foaming method to prepare nitrogen doped ultrathin carbon nanosheets (NCNs) by simply pyrolysing a mixture of citric acid and NH 4 Cl. Under the optimized pyrolysis temperature (carbonized at 1000 °C) and mass ratio of precursors (1 : 1), the synthesized NCN-1000-5 sample possesses an ultrathin sheet structure, an ultrahigh specific surface area (1793 m 2 g −1 ), and rich edge defects, and exhibits low overpotential and robust stability for the ORR, OER and HER. By means of density functional theory (DFT) computations, we revealed that the intrinsic active sites for the ORR, OER and HER are the carbon atoms located at the armchair edge and adjacent to the graphitic N dopants. When practically used as a catalyst in rechargeable Zn–air batteries, a high energy density (806 W h kg −1 ), a low charge/discharge voltage gap (0.77 V) and an ultralong cycle life (over 330 h) were obtained at 10 mA cm −2 for NCN-1000-5. This work not only presents a versatile strategy to develop advanced carbon materials with ultrahigh specific surface area and abundant edge defects, but also provides useful guidance for designing and developing multifunctional metal-free catalysts for various energy-related electrocatalytic reactions.more » « less
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Metal‐free electrocatalysts have been extensively developed to replace noble metal Pt and RuO2catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in fuel cells or metal–air batteries. These electrocatalysts are usually deposited on a 3D conductive support (e.g., carbon paper or carbon cloth (CC)) to facilitate mass and electron transport. For practical applications, it is desirable to create in situ catalysts on the carbon fiber support to simplify the fabrication process for catalytic electrodes. In this study, the first example of in situ exfoliated, edge‐rich, oxygen‐functionalized graphene on the surface of carbon fibers using Ar plasma treatment is successfully prepared. Compared to pristine CC, the plasma‐etched carbon cloth (P‐CC) has a higher specific surface area and an increased number of active sites for OER and ORR. P‐CC also displays good intrinsic electron conductivity and excellent mass transport. Theoretical studies show that P‐CC has a low overpotential that is comparable to Pt‐based catalysts, as a result of both defects and oxygen doping. This study provides a simple and effective approach for producing highly active in situ catalysts on a carbon support for OER and ORR.
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1039/C9EN00802K
