Two-electron oxygen reduction on fullerene C60-carbon nanotubes covalent hybrid as a metal-free electrocatalyst

Nanocarbon materials are considered to be active for electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) for hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) synthesis. In the present work, a new type of fullerene 60 (C-60)-carbon nanotubes (CNTs) hybrid with covalently attached C-60 onto outer surface of CNTs was synthesized. The structure of C-60-CNT hybrid was confirmed by physical and chemical characterizations and its conformation is proposed featuring the covalent incorporation of CNTs and C-60 derivative. Car CNT hybrid showed high efficiencies on electro-generating H2O2, owing to huge surface area and intermolecular electron-transfer in the hybrid structure. A high H2O2 production rate of 4834.57 mg L(-1)h(-1) (426.58 mmol L-1) was achieved at - 0.2V vs saturated calomel electrode (SCE).