title: Heteroatom doped mesoporous carbon/graphene nanosheets as highly efficient electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction.
abstract: The high cost of platinum (Pt) based catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) has restricted the widespread commercialization of fuel cells. Heteroatom (N, B, P, S or Se) doped carbon materials have been regarded as the promising metal-free catalysts for replacing Pt based catalysts owing to their high efficiencies, good stability and relative low cost. In this work, we present a cost-effective synthesis approach for heteroatom (N and S) doped mesoporous carbon/graphene (HMCG) nanosheets by using nano-casting technology with mesoporous silica/graphene nanosheets (MSG) as hard templates, and four different amino acids (alanine, serine, arginine and cystine) as heteroatom (N, S) and carbon precursors. The resulting catalysts exhibited excellent electrocatalytic activity for ORR in alkaline media. In particular, HMCGAla with alanine as precursors showed the highest electron transfer numbers and durability. These results indicated the attractive potential of HMCGs as metal-free catalysts in practical fuel cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Environment and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shangda Road 99, 200444 Shanghai, PR China.
authors.forename: Peimin
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Dongchuan Road 800, 200240 Shanghai, PR China.
authors.forename: Dongqing
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Environment and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shangda Road 99, 200444 Shanghai, PR China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: Lab of Microstructure, Shanghai University, Shangda Road 99, 200444 Shanghai, PR China.
authors.forename: Pengfei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Environment and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shangda Road 99, 200444 Shanghai, PR China. Electronic address: ruililiu@shu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Ruili
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D002384:Catalysis; D055664:Electrochemical Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D006108:Graphite / Q000737:chemistry*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D049329:Nanostructures; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010100:Oxygen / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D002244:Carbon; D006108:Graphite; D010100:Oxygen
keywords: Fuel cell; Heteroatom doped carbon; Metal-free catalysts; Oxygen reduction