title: Ball milling: a green mechanochemical approach for synthesis of nitrogen doped carbon nanoparticles.
abstract: Technological and scientific challenges coupled with environmental considerations have attracted a search for robust, green and energy-efficient synthesis and processing routes for advanced functional nanomaterials. In this article, we demonstrate a high-energy ball milling technique for large-scale synthesis of nitrogen doped carbon nanoparticles, which can be used as an electro-catalyst for oxygen reduction reactions after a structural refinement with controlled thermal annealing. The resulting carbon nanoparticles exhibited competitive catalytic activity (5.2 mA cm(-2) kinetic-limiting current density compared with 7.6 mA cm(-2) on Pt/C reference) and excellent methanol tolerance compared to a commercial Pt/C catalyst. The proposed synthesis route by ball milling and annealing is an effective process for carbon nanoparticle production and efficient nitrogen doping, providing a large-scale production method for the development of highly efficient and practical electrocatalysts.
authors.affiliation: ARC Centre of Excellence for Functional Nanomaterials, Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, Victoria 3216, Australia.
authors.forename: Tan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.forename: Jaka
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sunarso
authors.forename: Wenrong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Yongbai
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Alexey M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Glushenkov
authors.forename: Lu Hua
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Patrick C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Howlett
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen