4.6 Article

Electrocatalytic oxygen reduction by a Co/Co3O4@N-doped carbon composite material derived from the pyrolysis of ZIF-67/poplar flowers

Journal

RSC ADVANCES
Volume 11, Issue 5, Pages 2693-2700

Publisher

ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY
DOI: 10.1039/d0ra09615f

Keywords

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Funding

  1. Doctoral Scientific Research Foundation of Shandong Jiaotong University [BS50004952, BS50004919]
  2. Scientific Research Fund Project of Shandong Jiaotong University [Z201918]
  3. Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province [ZR2020QE070, ZR2020QA076]
  4. National Natural Science Foundation of China [51803109]

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This study focuses on the development and application of catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), with a particular emphasis on the potential use of nitrogen-doped carbon materials in ORR. Through experiments and analysis, an efficient and low-cost Co/Co3O4@N-doped carbon catalyst suitable for ORR was identified.
Catalysts used for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) are crucial to fuel cells. However, the development of novel catalysts possessing high activity at a low cost is very challenging. Recently, extensive research has indicated that nitrogen-doped carbon materials, which include nonprecious metals as well as metal-based oxides, can be used as excellent candidates for the ORR. Here, Co/Co3O4@N-doped carbon (NC) with a low cost and highly stable performance is utilized as an ORR electrocatalyst through the pyrolysis of an easily prepared physical mixture containing a cobalt-based zeolite imidazolate framework (ZIF-67 precursor) and biomass materials from poplar flowers. Compared with the pure ZIF-derived counterpart (Co@NC) and PL-bio-C, the as-synthesized electrocatalysts show significantly enhanced ORR activities. The essential roles of doped atoms (ZIF-67 precursor) in improving the ORR activities are discussed. Depending mainly on the formation of Co-Co3O4 active sites and abundant nitrogen-containing groups, the resulting Co/Co3O4@NC catalyst exhibits good electroactivity (onset and half-wave potentials: E-onset = 0.94 V and E-1/2 = 0.85 V, respectively, and a small Tafel slope of 90 mV dec(-1)) compared to Co@NC and PL-bio-C and follows the 4-electron pathway with good stability and methanol resistance. The results of this study provide a reference for exploring cobalt-based N-doped biomass carbon for energy conversion and storage applications.

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