N-doped graphene for electrocatalytic O2 and CO2 reduction

Ruguang Ma; Kuikui Wang; Chunjie Li; Chundong Wang; Aziz Habibi-Yangjeh; Guangcun Shan

doi:10.1039/d2na00348a

N-doped graphene for electrocatalytic O₂ and CO₂ reduction

Nanoscale Adv. 2022 Sep 6;4(20):4197-4209. doi: 10.1039/d2na00348a. eCollection 2022 Oct 11.

Authors

Ruguang Ma¹, Kuikui Wang², Chunjie Li¹, Chundong Wang³, Aziz Habibi-Yangjeh⁴, Guangcun Shan⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology 99 Xuefu Road Suzhou 215011 China.
² Institute of Materials for Energy and Environment, Laboratory of New Fiber Materials and Modern Textile, Growing Basis for State Key Laboratory, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Qingdao University Qingdao 266071 China.
³ School of Optical and Electronic Information, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Optics Valley Laboratory, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan 430074 PR China.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili Ardabil Iran ahabibi@uma.ac.ir.
⁵ School of Instrumentation Science and Opto-electronics Engineering, Beihang University No. 37 XueYuan Road Beijing 100083 China gcshan@buaa.edu.cn.

Abstract

The electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) are important approaches to realize energy conversion and sustainable development. However, sluggish reaction kinetics severely hinders the practical application of devices related to these reactions. N-doped graphene (NG) with unique properties exhibits great potential in catalyzing the CO₂RR and ORR, which is attributed to the electron redistribution. In this review, we start from the fundamental properties of NG, especially emphasizing the changes caused by N doping. Then the synthetic methods are summarized by classifying them into top-down strategies and bottom-up strategies. Subsequently, the applications of NG in the ORR and CO₂RR are discussed and the effects of electronic structure on the electrocatalytic activity are highlighted. Finally, we give our own perspective on the future research direction of NG in the applications of the ORR and CO₂RR.

Publication types

Review