Great efforts have been dedicated to finding economic and efficient oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) for fuel cell technology. Among various catalysts, N-doped carbon-based nanomaterials have attracted much attention due to low-cost, noble metal free, and good durability. Herein, we developed a facile and economic strategy to prepare nitrogen-doped carbon networks for efficient ORR application. The g-C3N4 is used as the template and N source, and dopamine is used as the carbon source. By simple hydrothermal treatment and sintering, N-doped carbon network structures with high specific surface area, effective ORR activity, and superior durability could be acquired. The present strategy is free of involving generally multistep, poisonous reagents, and complication of removing template for fabrication of 3D carbon structures.
Keywords: Carbon-based materials; Mesoporous carbon; Metal free; Oxygen reduction reaction.