S, N Dual-Doped Graphene-like Carbon Nanosheets as Efficient Oxygen Reduction Reaction Electrocatalysts

Porous Carbon Networks Derived From Graphitic Carbon Nitride for Efficient Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Great efforts have been dedicated to finding economic and efficient oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) for fuel cell technology. Among various catalysts, N-doped carbon-based nanomaterials have attracted much attention due to low-cost, noble metal free, and good durability. Herein, we developed a facile and economic strategy to prepare nitrogen-doped carbon networks for efficient ORR application. The g-C₃N₄ is used as the template and N source, and dopamine is used as the carbon source. By simple hydrothermal treatment and sintering, N-doped carbon network structures with high specific surface area, effective ORR activity, and superior durability could be acquired. The present strategy is free of involving generally multistep, poisonous reagents, and complication of removing template for fabrication of 3D carbon structures.

N, S Dual-Doped Carbon Derived from Dye Sludge by Using Polymeric Flocculant as Soft Template

Dye sludge is a major by-product and it will bring critical environmental problems in the textile industry. In this study, dicyandiamide formaldehyde resin (DFR) is used as an effective flocculating agent for the removal of anionic dyes from textile dye wastewater. Employing dye-contaminated sewage sludges as precursors, N, S dual-doped carbon materials are successfully synthesized by using DFR as a soft template. The specific surface area, morphology, and pore structure of the resulting annealed products can be easily controlled by changing the DFR content of the dye sludge. The oxygen reduction reaction performance of optimal carbon material (N, S-DF-2) is close to commercial 20% Pt/C in alkaline medium, including onset potential (0.98 V), half-wave potential (0.82 V), as well as limiting current density (5.46 mA·cm^-2). Furthermore, it also shows better durability and crossover resistance. In addition, N, S-DF-2 exhibits a large specific capacitance (230 F·g^-1 at 1 A·g^-1) and super capacitance retention (nearly 98% at 10 A·g^-1) after 2500 cycles as supercapacitors electrodes. This work opens up a new method to take full advantage of organic polymeric flocculant as a soft template to prepare N, S dual-doped carbon materials, which will be beneficial for the reuse and recycling of sewage sludge, as well as for the production of good quality energy conversion and storage materials.

Progress in Nonmetal-Doped Graphene Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Owing to energy shortages and environmental pollution, green energy sources such as polymer electrolyte fuel cells and metal-air batteries play a more and more important role, whereby the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is the rate-determining step. Development of high-efficiency and stable catalysts to facilitate the ORR is of importance. Graphene is a new type of material with two-dimensional structure and high surface area, which has wide-ranging applications in many fields. However, graphene with zero band gap shows low electrocatalytic activity toward the ORR. Introduction of nonmetal atoms can change the electronic arrangement, generate active sites, and further improve the catalytic activity of graphene. Some nonmetal-doping strategies (e.g., N, S, and P doping) can promote ORR activity. Herein, the recent development of nonmetal-doped graphene catalysts for ORR is reviewed. Some common synthetic methods for nonmetal-doped graphene materials are summarized, and the active sites and possible reaction mechanisms for ORR on various nonmetal-doped graphene catalysts are discussed.

Unveiling the Role of Heteroatom Gradient-Distributed Carbon Fibers for Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries with Long Service Life

The fundamental understanding of electrocatalytic reaction process is anticipated to guide electrode upgradation and acquirement of high-performance vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs). Herein, a carbon fiber prototype system with a heteroatom gradient distribution has been developed with enlarged interlayer spacing and a high graphitization that improve the electronic conductivity and accelerate the electrocatalytic reaction, and the mechanism by which gradient-distributed heteroatoms enhance vanadium redox reactions was elucidated with the assistance of density functional theory calculations. All these contributions endow the obtained electrode prominent redox reversibility and durability with only 1.7% decay in energy efficiency over 1000 cycles at 150 mA cm^-2 in the VRFBs. Our work sheds light on the significance of elaborated electrode design and impels the in-depth investigation of VRFBs with long service life.

Carbon-Based Metal-Free ORR Electrocatalysts for Fuel Cells: Past, Present, and Future

Replacing precious platinum with earth-abundant materials for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in fuel cells has been the objective worldwide for several decades. In the last 10 years, the fastest-growing branch in this area has been carbon-based metal-free ORR electrocatalysts. Great progress has been made in promoting the performance and understanding the underlying fundamentals. Here, a comprehensive review of this field is presented by emphasizing the emerging issues including the predictive design and controllable construction of porous structures and doping configurations, mechanistic understanding from the model catalysts, integrated experimental and theoretical studies, and performance evaluation in full cells. Centering on these topics, the most up-to-date results are presented, along with remarks and perspectives for the future development of carbon-based metal-free ORR electrocatalysts.

S,N co-doped reduced graphene oxide sheets with cobalt hydroxide nanocrystals for highly active and stable bifunctional oxygen catalysts

A Co(OH)₂ anchored on S,N co-doped rGO as a highly active and stable bifunctional oxygen catalyst was developed via an efficient strategy and its catalytic activity was comparable to that of the benchmarked noble metal-based oxygen catalysts.

Heteroatom (Nitrogen/Sulfur)-Doped Graphene as an Efficient Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Reduction and Evolution Reactions

Carbon nanomaterials are potential materials with their intrinsic structure and property in energy conversion and storage. As the electrocatalysts, graphene is more remarkable in electrochemical reactions. Additionally, heteroatoms doping with metal-free materials can obtain unique structure and demonstrate excellent electrocatalytic performance. In this work, we proposed a facile method to prepare bifunctional electrocatalyst which was constructed by nitrogen, sulfur doped graphene (NSG), which demonstrate superior properties with high activity and excellent durability compared with Pt/C and IrO2 for oxygen reduction (OR) and oxygen evolution (OE) reactions. Accordingly, these phenomena are closely related to the synergistic effect of doping with nitrogen and sulfur by rationally regulating the polarity of carbon in graphene. The current work expands the method towards carbon materials with heteroatom dopants for commercialization in energy-related reactions.

Metal-organic framework-derived metal-free highly graphitized nitrogen-doped porous carbon with a hierarchical porous structure as an efficient and stable electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction

Nitrogen-doped carbon materials are promising oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts owing to high performance and stability. Herein, a three-dimensional porous bio-MOF-1, Zn₈(Ad)₄(Bpdc)₆O·2Me₂NH₂ (Ad = adeninate; Bpdc = biphenyldicarboxylate), was used as precursor to fabricate N-doped porous carbon materials (NPC-1000-ts, where 1000 stands for the carbonization temperature and t represents the carbonization time, t = 2, 3 and 4 h) by simple carbonization under Ar atmosphere. The porous carbon materials had different contents of graphitic N and graphitization degrees of carbon. The catalytic activities of NPCs as metal-free ORR electrocatalysts were studied. The obtained NPC-1000-4 (pyrolysis under 1000 °C for 4 h) displayed outstanding ORR performance, with a positive onset potential (-0.012 V), a higher half-wave potential (E_1/2) (-0.13 V) and a larger limiting current density (-5.76 mA/cm²) at -0.8 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) in KOH solution (0.1 M) than those of commercial Pt/C (20 wt%) catalyst (E_onset = -0.014 V, E_1/2 = -0.14 V and -5.08 mA/cm² at -0.8 V vs. Ag/AgCl). Obviously, the onset potential of NPC-1000-4 surpassed that of Pt/C, which was rare among currently available studies on metal-free nitrogen-doped porous carbon materials. Graphitic N significantly affected ORR catalytic performance besides graphitization degree of carbon. Meanwhile, NPC-1000-4 allowed an effective 4e^--dominant ORR process, and most importantly, coupled with much higher long-term stability (89.5%) than that of commercial Pt/C (20 wt%, 65.8%) catalyst and higher resistance to methanol poisoning. The remarkable ORR activity of NPC-1000-4 can be ascribed to large surface area, considerable hierarchical porosity, high graphitization degree and synergism between enriched active sites and high portion of graphitic N. Overall, the findings guide the development of MOF-derived metal-free N-doped carbon materials as high-activity non-precious electrocatalysts for ORR.

Microporous N,P-Codoped Graphitic Nanosheets as an Efficient Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Reduction in Whole pH Range for Energy Conversion and Biosensing Dissolved Oxygen

Microporous N,P-codoped graphitic nanosheets (N,P-CMP-1000) were synthesized by thermal annealing (1000 °C) of as-synthesized conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs) in the presence of phytic acid, which can be used as an effective metal-free electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) for energy conversion. In the whole pH range (i.e. alkaline, acidic, and neutral solutions), the obtained N,P-CMP-1000 exhibits superior electrocatalytic activity for ORR with a low overpotential, high current density, and good stability. Furthermore, N,P-CMP-1000 can also be applied for electrochemically sensing dissolved oxygen (DO), with a high sensitivity (1.89 μA mg^-1  L) and broad detection range (2.56 to 16.65 mg L^-1 ) due to its good electrocatalytic performance towards ORR in neutral solution. In vitro cytotoxicity tests (CCK-8 and Live/Dead Cell Double Staining Assay) of N,P-CMP-1000 extracts demonstrated its good biocompatibility to Human Corneal Epithelial Cells (HCEC), which shows its great potential as an eye-wearable biosensor for sensing DO in tears.

Stable and Efficient Nitrogen-Containing Carbon-Based Electrocatalysts for Reactions in Energy-Conversion Systems

High activity and stability are crucial for the practical use of electrocatalysts in fuel cells, metal-air batteries, and water electrolysis, including the oxygen reduction reaction, hydrogen evolution reaction, oxygen evolution reaction, and oxidation reactions of formic acid and alcohols. Electrocatalysts based on nitrogen-containing carbon (N-C) materials show promise in catalyzing these reactions; however, there is no systematic review of strategies for the engineering of active and stable N-C-based electrocatalysts. Herein, a comprehensive comparison of recently reported N-C-based electrocatalysts regarding both electrocatalytic activity and long-term stability is presented. In the first part of this review, the relationships between the electrocatalytic reactions and selection of the element to modify the N-C-based materials are discussed. Afterwards, synthesis methods for N-C-based electrocatalysts are summarized, and strategies for the synthesis of highly stable N-C-based electrocatalysts are presented. Multiple tables containing data on crucial parameters for both electrocatalytic activity and stability are displayed in this review. Finally, constructing M-N_x moieties is proposed as the most promising engineering strategy for stable N-C-based electrocatalysts.

Highly Efficient Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production on CdS/Cu7S4/g-C3N4 Ternary Heterostructures

Hydrogen production through photocatalytic water splitting has attracted much attention because of its potential to solve the issues of environmental pollution and energy shortage. In this work, CdS/Cu₇S₄/g-C₃N₄ ternary heterostructures are fabricated by ion exchange between CdS and Cu⁺ and subsequent ultrasonication-assisted self-assembly of CdS/Cu₇S₄ and g-C₃N₄, which provide excellent visible-light photocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution without any noble metal cocatalyst. With the presence of p-n junction, tuned band gap alignments, and higher charge carrier density in the CdS/Cu₇S₄/g-C₃N₄ ternary heterostructures that can effectively promote the spatial separation and prolong the lifetime of photogenerated electrons, a high hydrogen evolution rate of 3570 μmol g^-1 h^-1, an apparent quantum yield of 4.4% at 420 nm, and remarkable recycling stability are achieved. We believe that the as-synthesized CdS/Cu₇S₄/g-C₃N₄ ternary heterostructures can be promising noble metal-free catalysts for enhanced hydrogen production from photocatalytic water splitting.

Metal-Nitrogen-doped Porous Carbons Derived from Metal-Containing Ionic Liquids for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

This study describes a self-doping and additive-free strategy for the synthesis of metal-nitrogen-doped porous carbon materials (CMs) via carbonizing well-tailored precursors, metal-containing ionic liquids (M-ILs). The organic skeleton in M-ILs serves as both carbon and nitrogen sources, while metal ions acts as porogen and metallic dopants. A high nitrogen content, appropriate content of metallic species and hierarchical porosity synergistically endow the resultant CMs (MIBA-M-T) as effective electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). MIBA-Fe-900 with a high specific surface area of 1567 m²  g^-1 exhibits an activity similar to that of Pt/C catalyst, a higher tolerance to methanol than Pt/C, and long-term durability. This work supplies a simple and convenient route for the preparation of metal-containing carbon electrocatalysts.

Hard Carbons for Sodium-Ion Battery Anodes: Synthetic Strategies, Material Properties, and Storage Mechanisms

Sodium-ion batteries are attracting much interest due to their potential as viable future alternatives for lithium-ion batteries, in view of the much higher earth abundance of sodium over that of lithium. Although both battery systems have basically similar chemistries, the key celebrated negative electrode in lithium battery, namely, graphite, is unavailable for the sodium-ion battery due to the larger size of the sodium ion. This need is satisfied by "hard carbon", which can internalize the larger sodium ion and has desirable electrochemical properties. Unlike graphite, with its specific layered structure, however, hard carbon occurs in diverse microstructural states. Herein, the relationships between precursor choices, synthetic protocols, microstructural states, and performance features of hard carbon forms in the context of sodium-ion battery applications are elucidated. Derived from the pertinent literature employing classical and modern structural characterization techniques, various issues related to microstructure, morphology, defects, and heteroatom doping are discussed. Finally, an outlook is presented to suggest emerging research directions.

Construction of an Fe, N and S-codoped ultra-thin carbon nanosheet superstructure for the oxygen reduction reaction

A novel 3D superstructure containing Fe, N, and S-codoped ultra-thin carbon nanosheets was prepared to serve as a superior ORR electrocatalyst.

Deflagration synthesis of nitrogen/fluorine co-doped hollow carbon nanoparticles with excellent oxygen reduction performance

NaN₃/C₅F₅N deflagration is developed to synthesize hollow carbon nanospheres with high N/F doping level, graphitization degree and specific surface area in one step, which exhibit excellent ORR performance.

B,N,S tri-doped reduced graphite oxide–cobalt oxide composite: a bifunctional electrocatalyst for enhanced oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reactions

Cobalt oxide with B,N,S tri-doped reduced graphite oxide exhibits synergistic effects to enhance ORR activity.

Coffee Waste-Derived Hierarchical Porous Carbon as a Highly Active and Durable Electrocatalyst for Electrochemical Energy Applications

Nitrogen-doped porous carbon materials have been highlighted as promising alternatives to high-cost platinum in various electrochemical energy applications. However, protocols to generate effective pore structure are still challenging, which hampers mass production and utilization of carbon materials. Here, we suggest a facile and effective method for hierarchical porous carbon by a single-step carbonization of coffee waste (CW) with ZnCl₂. The CW, which is one of the most earth-abundant organic waste, can be successfully converted to nitrogen-doped porous carbon. It shows outstanding oxygen reduction activity and durability comparable to the state-of-the-art platinum, and the half-wave potential is also comparable to the best metal-free electrocatalysts in alkaline media. Finally, we apply it to counter electrode of dye-sensitized solar cell, whose photovoltaic efficiency surpasses the one made with conventional platinum electrode. We demonstrate the feasibility of our strategies for highly efficient, cheap, and environment-friendly electrocatalyst to replace platinum in various electrochemical energy applications.

Co Nanoparticles/Co, N, S Tri-doped Graphene Templated from In-Situ-Formed Co, S Co-doped g-C3N4 as an Active Bifunctional Electrocatalyst for Overall Water Splitting

The development of high-performance electrocatalyst with earth-abundant elements for water-splitting is a key factor to improve its cost efficiency. Herein, a noble metal-free bifunctional electrocatalyst was synthesized by a facile pyrolysis method using sucrose, urea, Co(NO₃)₂ and sulfur powder as raw materials. During the fabrication process, Co, S co-doped graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) was first produced, and then this in-situ-formed template further induced the generation of a Co, N, S tri-doped graphene coupled with Co nanoparticles (NPs) in the following pyrolysis process. The effect of pyrolysis temperature (700, 800, and 900 °C) on the physical properties and electrochemical performances of the final product was studied. Thanks to the increased number of graphene layer encapsulated Co NPs, higher graphitization degree of carbon matrix and the existence of hierarchical macro/meso pores, the composite electrocatalyst prepared under 900 °C presented the best activity for both hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) with outstanding long-term durability. This work presented a facile method for the fabrication of non-noble-metal-based carbon composite from in-situ-formed template and also demonstrated a potential bifunctional electrocatalyst for the future investigation and application.

Facile Synthesis of Defect-Rich and S/N Co-Doped Graphene-Like Carbon Nanosheets as an Efficient Electrocatalyst for Primary and All-Solid-State Zn-Air Batteries

Developing facile and low-cost porous graphene-based catalysts for highly efficient oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) remains an important matter for fuel cells. Here, a defect-enriched and dual heteroatom (S and N) doped hierarchically porous graphene-like carbon nanomaterial (D-S/N-GLC) was prepared by a simple and scalable strategy, and exhibits an outperformed ORR activity and stability as compared to commercial Pt/C catalyst in an alkaline condition (its half-wave potential is nearly 24 mV more positive than Pt/C). The excellent ORR performance of the catalyst can be attributed to the synergistic effect, which integrates the novel graphene-like architectures, 3D hierarchically porous structure, superhigh surface area, high content of active dopants, and abundant defective sites in D-S/N-GLC. As a result, the developed catalysts are used as the air electrode for primary and all-solid-state Zn-air batteries. The primary batteries demonstrate a higher peak power density of 252 mW cm^-2 and high voltage of 1.32 and 1.24 V at discharge current densities of 5 and 20 mA cm^-2, respectively. Remarkably, the all-solid-state battery also exhibits a high peak power density of 81 mW cm^-2 with good discharge performance. Moreover, such catalyst possesses a comparable ORR activity and higher stability than Pt/C in acidic condition. The present work not only provides a facile but cost-efficient strategy toward preparation of graphene-based materials, but also inspires an idea for promoting the electrocatalytic activity of carbon-based materials.

Gas-Flow Tailoring Fabrication of Graphene-like Co-Nx-C Nanosheet Supported Sub-10 nm PtCo Nanoalloys as Synergistic Catalyst for Air-Cathode Microbial Fuel Cells

In this work, we presented a novel, facile, and template-free strategy for fabricating graphene-like N-doped carbon as oxygen reduction catalyst in sustainable microbial fuel cells (MFCs) by using an ion-inducing and spontaneous gas-flow tailoring effect from a unique nitrogen-rich polymer gel precursor which has not been reported in materials science. Remarkably, by introduction of trace platinum- and cobalt- precursor in polymer gel, highly dispersed sub-10 nm PtCo nanoalloys can be in situ grown and anchored on graphene-like carbon. The as-prepared catalysts were investigated by a series of physical characterizations, electrochemical measurements, and microbial fuel cell tests. Interestingly, even with a low Pt content (5.13 wt %), the most active Co/N codoped carbon supported PtCo nanoalloys (Co-N-C/Pt) exhibited dramatically improved catalytic activity toward oxygen reduction reaction coupled with superior output power density (1008 ± 43 mW m^-2) in MFCs, which was 29.40% higher than the state of the art Pt/C (20 wt %). Notability, the distinct catalytic activity of Co-N-C/Pt was attributed to the highly efficient synergistic catalytic effect of Co-Nx-C and PtCo nanoalloys. Therefore, Co-N-C/Pt should be a promising oxygen reduction catalyst for application in MFCs. Further, the novel strategy for graphene-like carbon also can be widely used in many other energy conversion and storage devices.

Nitrogen-Doped Graphitic Porous Carbon Nanosheets Derived from In Situ Formed g-C3 N4 Templates for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Heteroatom-doped carbon materials have been considered as potential substitutes for Pt-based electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline fuel cells. Here we report the synthesis of oxygen-containing nitrogen-doped carbon (ONC) nanosheets through the carbonization of a mixture that contained glucose and dicyandiamide (DCDA). In situ formed graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃ N₄ ) derived from DCDA provided a nitrogen-rich template, thereby facilitating the formation of ONC nanosheets. The resultant ONC materials with high nitrogen content, high specific surface areas, and highly mesoporous total volume displayed excellent electrochemical performance, including a similar ORR onset potential, half-potential, a higher diffusion-limited current, and excellent tolerance to methanol than that of the commercial Pt/C catalyst, respectively. Moreover, the ONC-850 nanosheet displayed high long-term durability even after 1000 cycles as well as a high electron transfer number of 3.92 (4.0 for Pt/C). Additionally, this work provides deeper insight into these materials and a versatile strategy for the synthesis of cost-effective 2D N-doped carbon electrocatalysts.

Self-assembled AuNPs on sulphur-doped graphene: a dual and highly efficient electrochemical sensor for nitrite (NO2−) and nitric oxide (NO)

Gold nanoparticles self-assembled over sulphur-doped graphene as a reusable electrocatalyst for selective and sensitive quantification of NO₂⁻ and NO.