Enhanced sulfur dioxide electrooxidation performance on a modified XC-72 carbon catalyst

摘要

AbstractVulcan XC-72 is a carbon catalyst that is widely used in electrochemistry. The electrooxidation of SO2plays a significant role in the domain of environmental protection. In this work, successive thermal and pyrolytic processes were applied to Vulcan XC-72 in order to obtain a modified catalyst that promotes SO2electrooxidation to a much greater degree than Vulcan XC-72 does. The preparation of this modified XC-72 involved three steps: doping, pore creation, and carbonization. These modification processes were shown to greatly increase the catalytic activity of the modified XC-72 during SO2electrooxidation. The catalytic performance of the modified XC-72 towards SO2electrooxidation was characterized via linear sweep voltammograms and cyclic voltammograms; the results showed that the onset potential and theEimax/2obtained with the modified XC-72 were 60?mV and 128?mV lower, respectively, than attained with Vulcan XC-72. The structural and physical properties of the modified XC-72 were characterized using TEM, XPS, and BET. The increased surface area and optimized pore structure of the modified XC-72, as well as the presence of pyridinic N constituents in this material, are believed to contribute to its enhanced capacity to catalyze the electrooxidation of SO2.

Graphical abstract?

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