NaCl protected synthesis of 3D hierarchical metal-free porous nitrogen-doped carbon catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction in acidic electrolyte

Rui Wu; Xiaoju Wan; Jianghai Deng; Xun Huang; Siguo Chen; Wei Ding; Li Li; Qiang Liao; Zidong Wei

doi:10.1039/c9cc02986a

NaCl protected synthesis of 3D hierarchical metal-free porous nitrogen-doped carbon catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction in acidic electrolyte

Chem Commun (Camb). 2019 Aug 7;55(61):9023-9026. doi: 10.1039/c9cc02986a. Epub 2019 Jul 10.

Authors

Rui Wu¹, Xiaoju Wan², Jianghai Deng², Xun Huang², Siguo Chen², Wei Ding², Li Li², Qiang Liao³, Zidong Wei²

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Power Transmission Equipment & System Security and New Technology, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China. huangxun@cqu.edu.cn zdwei@cqu.edu.cn and Center for Applied Chemistry, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Power Transmission Equipment & System Security and New Technology, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China. huangxun@cqu.edu.cn zdwei@cqu.edu.cn.
³ State Key Laboratory of Power Transmission Equipment & System Security and New Technology, School of Electrical Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China.

PMID: 31290864
DOI: 10.1039/c9cc02986a

Abstract

A high-performance 3D hierarchical porous metal-free N-doped carbon catalyst toward the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in acidic medium was successfully synthesized by employing ZnO as a mesoporous template and NaCl as both a macroporous template and a structure protective agent. The resultant improved active site density and diffusion efficiency lead to a superior ORR activity with a half-wave potential high up to 0.755 V in 0.1 M HClO₄.