ELECTROCATALYTIC ACTIVITY OF GRAPHENE/(SCN)_n COMPOSITES FOR OXYGEN REDUCTION REACTION

摘要

Currently, development of the electrocatalysts to facilitate the cathodic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) has attracted particular attention in research of fuel cells and other electrochemical energy devices. Traditionally, Pt and its alloys are used for this purpose. However, Pt-hased electrodes are expensive and sensitive to CO poisoning, which prohibits the fuel cells from large-scale applications. It is also acknowledged that the ORR is a bottleneck in fuel cell and battery technology due to the kinetic sluggishness with the four-electron transfer pathway leading to the substantial overpotential using Pt-based electrode materials. Recently, considerable efforts have been made to utilize graphene-based nanomaterials as promising electrode materials for ORR due to the high electrical conductivity, large specific surface area, inherent interlayer structure, functional groups and doping heteroatoms involved the basal plane. Various heteroatom (nitrogen, sulfur, or phosphorus)-doped carbon nanomaterials have been widely explored for ORR catalysts, though, the research on detailed reaction mechanism and kinetics is still in its infancy. The aim of this work was to prepare and investigate graphene-based nanocomposite materials containing an inorganic polymer polythiocyanogen (SCN)_n and apply it as a catalysts for ORR which is one of the most important electrochemical reaction in very many fields, such as energy conversion, corrosion, and biology.