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N-doped carbon nanocages: Bifunctional electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction and evolution reactions

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Abstract

Highly efficient metal-free, carbon-based, bi-functional electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) have attracted increased attention for use in electrochemical energy conversion systems, owing to their low cost and high activity. In this work, N-doped carbon nanocages (N-CCs) with a porous self-supported architecture and high specific surface area are synthesized by a facile interfacial assembly synthetic route. The materials are comprehensively characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, nitrogen adsorption–desorption experiments, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry, and linear sweep voltammetry demonstrate that the as-prepared N-CC could serve as an effective metal-free electrocatalyst with excellent catalytic activity, long-term operation durability, and excellent methanol tolerance for the ORR in alkaline media. In the presence of 3 mM methanol, the half wave potential of the N-CCs for the ORR is 190 mV; this is more positive than that of the commercial Pt/C electrocatalyst. Meanwhile, the N-CCs also show an OER activity comparable to that of the commercial Ru/C electrocatalyst, revealing their bifunctional property.

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Acknowledgements

This research was sponsored by Key Technologies R&D Program of Shaanxi Province (Nos. 2014K10-06 and 2015XT-18), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51373092 and 21543012), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Nos. GK201503038 and GK201501002), Program for Key Science & Technology Innovation Team of Shaanxi Province (No. 2015KCT-13), and the 111 Project (No. B14041).

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  1. Nan Jia and Qiang Weng contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Applied Surface and Colloid Chemistry (MOE), School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, 710062, China

    Nan Jia, Qiang Weng, Yaru Shi, Xinyan Shi, Xinbing Chen, Pei Chen, Zhongwei An & Yu Chen

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  1. Nan Jia
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  2. Qiang Weng
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  3. Yaru Shi
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  4. Xinyan Shi
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Correspondence to Pei Chen.

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Jia, N., Weng, Q., Shi, Y. et al. N-doped carbon nanocages: Bifunctional electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction and evolution reactions. Nano Res. 11, 1905–1916 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1808-8

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