Synthesis of nitrogen and sulfur doped graphene on graphite foam for electro-catalytic phenol degradation and water splitting

Xiaomeng Guo; Xiaoguang Duan; Junyi Ji; Xiaobin Fan; Yang Li; Fengbao Zhang; Guoliang Zhang; Yi-An Zhu; Wenchao Peng; Shaobin Wang

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2020.09.053

Synthesis of nitrogen and sulfur doped graphene on graphite foam for electro-catalytic phenol degradation and water splitting

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2021 Feb 1:583:139-148. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2020.09.053. Epub 2020 Sep 23.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China.
² School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.
³ School of Chemical Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China. Electronic address: junyiji@scu.edu.cn.
⁴ UNILAB, State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Multiphase Materials Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST), Shanghai 200237, China.
⁵ School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China. Electronic address: wenchao.peng@tju.edu.cn.

PMID: 33002686
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2020.09.053

Abstract

A rational design of electrode materials with both high electron conductivity and abundant of catalytic sites is essential for high-performance electrochemical reactions. Herein, a nitrogen and sulfur co-doped graphene (SNG) anchored on the interconnected conductive graphite foam (GF) is fabricated via drop-casting and in situ annealing. The SNG flakes are tightly immobilized on the GF surface, which can provide fast electron transfer rate and large electrolyte/electrode interfaces. The SNG@GF composite can be directly used as a free-standing electrode for electro-catalytic degradation of organic pollutants and overall water splitting. SNG@GF significantly enhanced the electrochemical activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) for catalytic oxidation. During the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), the SNG@GF exhibits an initial overpotential of 330 mV vs. RHE at 10 mA cm^-2 with a Tafel slope of 149 mV dec^-1 in 1 M KOH, which outperforms most of the reported metal-free catalysts. The density functional theory calculations are also used to unveil the S, N dual doping effects of carbon materials and their synergy in carbocatalysis. This study dedicates to developing multi-functional carbocatalysts for environmental and energy applications, and enables insights into carbocatalysis in electrochemistry.

Keywords: Catalytic oxidation; Dual doping; Electrode; Metal-free catalysts; Synergy; Water splitting.