Solvothermal Fabrication of Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanoparticles as Efficient Catalyst for Oxygen Reduction in KOH Electrolyte

摘要

abstract_textpIn this study, CCl4, metallic K and melamine were adopted as precursors to prepare nitrogen-doped carbon nanoparticles via a facile solvothermal method, where the CCl4 served as carbon source, K as strong reduction agent, and melamine as N source. The specific surface area of the synthesized carbon nanoparticles is 184.1 m(2) g(-1) with about 3.7 at. N doping content. In addition, the electrochemical measurements indicate that the difference of half-wave potential of carbon nanoparticles is only 46 mV relative to commercial 20 Pt/C and a 4e transfer dominates the oxygen reduction reaction process. The high activity for oxygen reduction could be ascribed to the successful N doping, especially the pyridinic N and graphinic N, and the hierarchical porosity structure containing mesorpores and macropores, which are favorable for the O-2 dissociation and electron/ion transport during the reaction./p/abstract_text