title: A Simple Synthesis of an N-Doped Carbon ORR Catalyst: Hierarchical Micro/Meso/Macro Porosity and Graphitic Shells.
abstract: Replacing platinum as an oxygen reduction catalyst is an important scientific and technological challenge. Herein we report a simple synthesis of a complex carbon with very good oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity at pH 13. Pyrolysis of magnesium nitrilotriacetate yields a carbon with hierarchical micro/meso/macro porosity, resulting from in situ templating by spontaneously forming MgO nanoparticles and from etching by pyrolysis gases. The mesopores are lined with highly graphitic shells. The high ORR activity is attributed to a good balance between high specific surface area and mass transport through the hierarchical porosity, and to improved electronic conductivity through the graphitic shells. This novel carbon has a high surface area (1320 m(2) g(-1) ), and high nitrogen content for a single precursor synthesis (∼6 %). Importantly, its synthesis is both cheap and easily scalable.
authors.affiliation: Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam (The Netherlands) http://hims.uva.nl/hcsc. d.eisenberg@uva.nl.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Eisenberg
authors.affiliation: Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam (The Netherlands) http://hims.uva.nl/hcsc.
authors.forename: Wowa
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Stroek
authors.affiliation: Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam (The Netherlands) http://hims.uva.nl/hcsc.
authors.forename: Norbert J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Geels
authors.affiliation: 3D-OXIDES, 70 Rue Gustave Eiffel, Saint Genis Pouilly, 01630 (France).
authors.forename: Cosmin S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Sandu
authors.affiliation: McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, 200 E. Dean Keeton St. Stop C0400, Austin, TX 78712 (USA).
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Heller
authors.affiliation: Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam (The Netherlands) http://hims.uva.nl/hcsc. n.yan@uva.nl.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam (The Netherlands) http://hims.uva.nl/hcsc. g.rothenberg@uva.nl.
authors.forename: Gadi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rothenberg
keywords: carbon shells; mesoporous materials; metal-free catalysts; microporous materials; oxygen reduction reaction