S, N Dual-Doped Graphene-like Carbon Nanosheets as Efficient Oxygen Reduction Reaction Electrocatalysts

Jiajie Li; Yumin Zhang; Xinghong Zhang; Jinzhen Huang; Jiecai Han; Zhihua Zhang; Xijiang Han; Ping Xu; Bo Song

doi:10.1021/acsami.6b12547

S, N Dual-Doped Graphene-like Carbon Nanosheets as Efficient Oxygen Reduction Reaction Electrocatalysts

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2017 Jan 11;9(1):398-405. doi: 10.1021/acsami.6b12547. Epub 2016 Dec 27.

Authors

Jiajie Li¹, Yumin Zhang¹, Xinghong Zhang¹, Jinzhen Huang¹, Jiecai Han¹, Zhihua Zhang², Xijiang Han³, Ping Xu³, Bo Song^{1

4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Composite Materials and Structures, Harbin Institute of Technology , Harbin 150080, China.
² Liaoning Key Materials Laboratory for Railway, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Dalian Jiaotong University , Dalian 116028, China.
³ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology , Harbin 150080, China.
⁴ Academy of Fundamental and Interdisciplinary Sciences, Harbin Institute of Technology , Harbin 150080, China.
⁵ Department of Physics, Harbin Institute of Technology , Harbin 150080, China.

PMID: 27983785
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b12547

Abstract

Replacement of rare and precious metal catalysts with low-cost and earth-abundant ones is currently among the major goals of sustainable chemistry. Herein, we report the synthesis of S, N dual-doped graphene-like carbon nanosheets via a simple pyrolysis of a mixture of melamine and dibenzyl sulfide as efficient metal-free electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The S, N dual-doped graphene-like carbon nanosheets show enhanced activity toward ORR as compared with mono-doped counterparts, and excellent durability in contrast to the conventional Pt/C electrocatalyst in both alkaline and acidic media. A high content of graphitic-N and pyridinic-N is necessary for ORR electrocatalysis in the graphene-like carbon nanosheets, but an appropriate amount of S atoms further contributes to the improvement of ORR activity. Superior ORR performance from the as-prepared S, N dual-doped graphene-like carbon nanosheets implies great promises in practical applications in energy devices.

Keywords: S, N-doped carbon; electrocatalysis; graphene-like; metal-free; oxygen reduction reaction.