Effect of Morphology of Fe-N Codoped Carbon Nanomaterial on Electrochemical Reduction Reactions

Authors

Er-ling LI, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China;
Fa YANG, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China)
Ming-bo RUAN, State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry & Jilin Province Key Laboratory of Low Carbon  Chemical Power, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun， 130022, China;
Ping SONG, State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry & Jilin Province Key Laboratory of Low Carbon  Chemical Power, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun， 130022, China;
Wei-lin XU, State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry & Jilin Province Key Laboratory of Low Carbon  Chemical Power, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun， 130022, China;Follow

Corresponding Author

Wei-lin XU(weilinxu@ciac.ac.cn)

Abstract

Graphene nanosheets (GS) and carbon nanotubes have been considered as good catalysts candidates for applications in energy conversion and storage. However, hybrids of GS and carbon nanotubes are always formed in transition metal-based nitrogen-doped system, making the system quite complex for exploring the structure-activity relationship. To prepare the catalysts with desired species controllably, we try to adjust the outcomes with the effect of nitrogen on the growth of carbon nanotubes. In this work, a series of Fe-N co-doped carbon hybrid catalysts containing N-doped GS or hybrids of GS/bamboo carbon nanotubes (BCNTs) or BCNTs were obtained with one-step pyrolyzed method. To evaluate the effect of carbon morphology on performance of catalysts, oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) were used as model reactions. Electrochemical studies revealed that the catalysts containing only BCNTs showed the best performance of ORR (Eonset, 1.02 V_RHE) and CO2RR (FE_CO, 91.1% at -0.6 V_RHE) among the tested samples. Further investigations displayed that the remarkable activity is closely related to the defects, large specific surface area and high content of pyridinic N, and existence of FeN_x in the unique BCNTs. Such work deepens fundamental understanding in the morphology-dependent catalysis for both ORR and CO₂RR processes.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords

morphology tuning, graphene nanosheet, bamboo carbon nanotube, electrochemical reduction reaction

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.13208/j.electrochem.180942

Publication Date

2019-08-28

Online Available Date

2019-08-28

Revised Date

2018-11-28

Received Date

2018-10-08

Recommended Citation

Er-ling LI, Fa YANG, Ming-bo RUAN, Ping SONG, Wei-lin XU. Effect of Morphology of Fe-N Codoped Carbon Nanomaterial on Electrochemical Reduction Reactions[J]. Journal of Electrochemistry, 2019 , 25(4): 180942.
DOI: 10.13208/j.electrochem.180942
Available at: https://jelectrochem.xmu.edu.cn/journal/vol25/iss4/8