One stone, two birds: Gastrodia elata-derived heteroatom-doped carbon materials for efficient oxygen reduction electrocatalyst and as fluorescent decorative materials

We demonstrate a one-stone-two-birds strategy for synthesizing nitrogen-doped carbon materials via hydrothermal treatment of Gastrodia elata. The solid product followed by further ionothermal pyrolysis exhibits excellent electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction reaction via a dominant four-electron oxygen reduction pathway in alkaline medium, and shows superior crossover resistance, CO tolerance, and catalytic stability to a commercial Pt/C catalyst. The supernatant exhibits strong blue fluorescence under UV radiation, showing its promising potential as new-generation decorative materials combining with Chinese folk paper-cut art and displaying mysterious and stimulating stage effects. Given these excellent electrocatalytic and optical properties, ease of preparation, and abundant resources, such one-stone-two-birds methodology not only endows the products with desirable functionality, but also timely reminds our researchers of the well-accepted saying that things should be used to their best advantages, which becomes more and more urgent especially in recent days characteristic of progressive resource scarcity. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.