Electrochemically functional porous membranes of low cost are appealing in various electrochemical devices used in modern environmental and energy technologies. Herein we describe a scalable strategy to construct electrochemically active, hierarchically porous carbon membranes containing atomically dispersed semi-metallic Se, denoted SeNCM. The isolated Se atoms were stabilized by carbon atoms in the form of a hexatomic ring structure, in which the Se atoms were located at the edges of graphitic domains in SeNCM. This configuration is different from that of previously reported transition/noble metal single atom catalysts. The positively charged Se, enlarged graphitic layers, robust electrochemical nature of SeNCM endow them with excellent catalytic activity that is superior to state-of-the-art commercial Pt/C catalyst. It also has long-term operational stability for hydrazine oxidation reaction in practical hydrazine fuel cell.
Keywords: atomically dispersed; electrocatalysis; hydrazine oxidation; porous carbon membranes; selenium.
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