Carbon dots self-decorated heteroatom-doped porous carbon with superior electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction

Developing advanced carbon materials as a metal-free electrocatalyst to replace noble metal-based one for, but not limited to, oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is of great allure but remains challenging. In this work, carbon dots (CDs) self-decorated, N, S codoped porous carbon (NSPC) was fabricated by alkaliassisted protein decomposition and reconstruction. Specifically, in hot alkaline solution, proteins hydrolyzed into protein fragments, and then part of the fragments formed highly crystalline CDs. After freeze-dried and pyrolyzed, the CDs-containing protein fragments were converted into CDs/NSPC composites. The as-prepared CDs/NSPC possesses rich edge, heteroatom-dopant, high porosity, and smooth electron transfer between CDs and NSPC, synergistically contributing to CDs/NSPC such an outstanding ORR catalytic performance that even outperforms Pt/C. Furthermore, CDs/NSPC was evaluated as an air electrode catalyst for Zn-air batteries with excellent stability and high-power density. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.