Open-Mouthed Hollow Carbons: Systematic Studies as Cobalt- and Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Yingji Zhao; Hiroki Nara; Dong Jiang; Toru Asahi; Sameh M Osman; Jeonghun Kim; Jing Tang; Yusuke Yamauchi

doi:10.1002/smll.202304450

Open-Mouthed Hollow Carbons: Systematic Studies as Cobalt- and Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Small. 2023 Nov;19(48):e2304450. doi: 10.1002/smll.202304450. Epub 2023 Jul 30.

Authors

Yingji Zhao^{1

2

3}, Hiroki Nara⁴, Dong Jiang^{2

3}, Toru Asahi², Sameh M Osman⁵, Jeonghun Kim⁶, Jing Tang^{1

7}, Yusuke Yamauchi^{3

6

8}

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Chemical Processes, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China.
² Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku, Tokyo, 169-8555, Japan.
³ Department of Materials Process Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8603, Japan.
⁴ Research Organization for Nano & Life Innovation, Waseda University, 513 Wasedatsurumakicho, Shinjuku, Tokyo, 162-0041, Japan.
⁵ Chemistry Department, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, 03722, South Korea.
⁷ Institute of Eco-Chongming, Shanghai, 202162, China.
⁸ Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia.

PMID: 37518827
DOI: 10.1002/smll.202304450

Abstract

Although hollow carbon structures have been extensively studied in recent years, their interior surfaces are not fully utilized due to the lack of fluent porous channels in the closed shell walls. This study presents a tailored design of open-mouthed particles hollow cobalt/nitrogen-doped carbon with mesoporous shells (OMH-Co/NC), which exhibits sufficient accessibility and electroactivity on both the inner and outer surfaces. By leveraging the self-conglobation effect of metal sulfate in methanol, a raspberry-structured Zn/Co-ZIF (R-Zn/Co-ZIF) precursor is obtained, which is further carbonized to fabricate the OMH-Co/NC. In-depth electrochemical investigations demonstrate that the introduction of open pores can enhance mass transfer and improve the utilization of the inner active sites. Benefiting from its unique structure, the resulting OMH-Co/NC exhibits exceptional electrocatalytic oxygen reduction performance, achieving a half-wave potential of 0.865 V and demonstrating excellent durability.

Keywords: hollow structures; open-mouthed particles; oxygen reduction reaction.

Abstract

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