A Facile Synthesis of Noble-Metal-Free Catalyst Based on Nitrogen Doped Graphene Oxide for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Vladimir P Vasiliev; Roman A Manzhos; Valeriy K Kochergin; Alexander G Krivenko; Eugene N Kabachkov; Alexander V Kulikov; Yury M Shulga; Gennady L Gutsev

doi:10.3390/ma15030821

A Facile Synthesis of Noble-Metal-Free Catalyst Based on Nitrogen Doped Graphene Oxide for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Materials (Basel). 2022 Jan 21;15(3):821. doi: 10.3390/ma15030821.

Authors

Vladimir P Vasiliev¹, Roman A Manzhos¹, Valeriy K Kochergin¹, Alexander G Krivenko¹, Eugene N Kabachkov^{1

2}, Alexander V Kulikov¹, Yury M Shulga¹, Gennady L Gutsev³

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Problems of Chemical Physics of RAS, Acad. Semenov ave. 1, 142432 Chernogolovka, Russia.
² Chernogolovka Scientific Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, 142432 Chernogolovka, Russia.
³ Department of Physics, Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, FL 32307, USA.

Abstract

A simple method for the mechanochemical synthesis of an effective metal-free electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction was demonstrated. A nitrogen-doped carbon material was obtained by grinding a mixture of graphene oxide and melamine in a planetary ball mill. The resulting material was characterized by XPS, EPR, and Raman and IR spectroscopy. The nitrogen concentration on the N-bmGO surface was 5.5 at.%. The nitrogen-enriched graphene material (NbmGO has half-wave potential of -0.175/-0.09 V and was shown to possess high activity as an electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction. The electrocatalytic activity of NbmGO can be associated with a high concentration of active sites for the adsorption of oxygen molecules on its surface. The high current retention (93% for 12 h) after continuous polarization demonstrates the excellent long-term stability of NbmGO.

Keywords: N-doped; ball-milling; graphene oxide; melamine; noble-metal-free catalysts; oxygen reduction reaction.