Low-Temperature Carbide-Mediated Growth of Bicontinuous Nitrogen-Doped Mesoporous Graphene as an Efficient Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalyst

Doped graphene could catalyse renewable energy developments

24 January 2019

A low-temperature way to make porous nitrogen-doped graphene, which could have applications from next-generation batteries to carbon-free fuels, has been developed by scientists at the Advanced Institute for Materials Research (AIMR) at Tohoku University.

Many promising renewable-energy applications, including fuel cells and metal–air batteries, rely on splitting molecular oxygen (O₂). Hydrogen fuel cells, for example, combine hydrogen and oxygen to release electricity, producing water as the by-product. But until now, highly active oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts have required platinum, a rare and expensive metal.

AIMR researchers have now produced a high-performance ORR catalyst from inexpensive, earth-abundant elements carbon and nitrogen. They developed a low-temperature, nickel-based method for growing porous, single-atom-thick carbon sheets called graphene. To improve its electrocatalytic ORR performance, the researchers doped the graphene with a high number of nitrogen atoms.

When the team tested their material as an electrode for a zinc–air battery, it showed comparable performance to a platinum-based electrode and a higher durability.

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References

1. Advanced Materials 30, 1803588 (2018). doi: 10.1002/adma.201803588