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Template-directed synthesis of nitrogen- and sulfur-codoped carbon nanowire aerogels with enhanced electrocatalytic performance for oxygen reduction

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Abstract

Heteroatom doping, precise composition control, and rational morphology design are efficient strategies for producing novel nanocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in fuel cells. Herein, a cost-effective approach to synthesize nitrogen- and sulfur-codoped carbon nanowire aerogels using a hard templating method is proposed. The aerogels prepared using a combination of hydrothermal treatment and carbonization exhibit good catalytic activity for the ORR in alkaline solution. At the optimal annealing temperature and mass ratio between the nitrogen and sulfur precursors, the resultant aerogels show comparable electrocatalytic activity to that of a commercial Pt/C catalyst for the ORR. Importantly, the optimized catalyst shows much better long-term stability and satisfactory tolerance for the methanol crossover effect. These codoped aerogels are expected to have potential applications in fuel cells.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a start-up fund of Washington State University, USA. The XPS analysis was performed using EMSL, a national scientific user facility sponsored by the Department of Energy’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research and located at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). We acknowledge Franceschi Microscopy & Image Center at Washington State University for TEM and SEM measurements. PNNL is a multi-program national laboratory operated for DOE by Battelle under Contract DE-AC05-76RL01830.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Washington State University, Richland, WA, 99164, USA

    Shaofang Fu, Chengzhou Zhu, Junhua Song, Dan Du & Yuehe Lin

  2. Environmental Molecular Science Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, 99354, USA

    Mark H. Engelhard & Yuehe Lin

  3. Energy and Environmental Directory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, 99354, USA

    Xiaolin Li

  4. State Key Laboratory of Crystal Materials, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, China

    Peina Zhang & Haibing Xia

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  1. Shaofang Fu
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Correspondence to Yuehe Lin.

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12274_2016_1371_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Template-directed synthesis of nitrogen- and sulfur-codoped carbon nanowire aerogels with enhanced electrocatalytic performance for oxygen reduction

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Fu, S., Zhu, C., Song, J. et al. Template-directed synthesis of nitrogen- and sulfur-codoped carbon nanowire aerogels with enhanced electrocatalytic performance for oxygen reduction. Nano Res. 10, 1888–1895 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1371-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1371-8

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