Mesoporous nitrogen-doped carbon microfibers derived from Mg-biquinoline-dicarboxy compound for efficient oxygen electroreduction

An in-situ MgO-templating synthesis route was introduced to obtain the mesoporous nitrogen-doped carbon microfibers by thermal conversion of new Mg-2,2'-biquinoline 4,4-dicarboxy acid coordination compound (Mg-DCA) microfibers. The investigated crystal structure of Mg-DCA testified that the assembling of Mg2+ and DCA through Mg-O coordination bond and hydrogen bond contributed to the formation of one-dimensional (1D) crystalline Mg-DCA microfibers. The nitrogen-doped carbons derived from the pyrolysis of Mg-DCA showed the well-defined microfiber morphology with high mesopore-surface area. Such mesoporous microfibers exhibited the efficient catalytic activity for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline solutions with better stability and methanol-tolerance performance.