FABRICATION AND FUNCTIONALIZATION OF A PURE NON-NOBLE METAL CATALYST STRUCTURE SHOWING TIME STABILITY FOR LARGE SCALE APPLICATIONS

摘要

A pure and crystalline single-crystal nitrogen-functionalized graphene nano-flake powder comprising from 2 atomic % to at least 35 atomic % of total functionalized nitrogen within the graphene nano-flakes is disclosed. As well, the method of producing the nano-flakes that comprises injecting a carbon source into a thermal plasma system, dissociating the carbon source into carbon atomic species, transporting the carbon atomic species through a controlled nucleation zone to produce a crystalline graphene nano-flake structure, injecting the nitrogen source into the thermal plasma system dissociating the nitrogen source into nitrogen active species, and transporting the nitrogen atomic species to contact the crystalline graphene nano-flakes to produce the crystalline nitrogen-functionalized graphene nano-flakes is also disclosed. Finally, a multilayer composite comprising a carbon substrate and a layer of crystalline nitrogen-functionalized graphene nano-flakes is also described.