Sulfur and nitrogen co-doped, few-layered graphene oxide as a highly efficient electrocatalyst for the oxygen-reduction reaction

Abstract

S and N co-doped, few-layered graphene oxide is synthesized by using pyrimidine and thiophene as precursors for the application of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The dual-doped catalyst with pyrrolic/graphitic N-dominant structures exhibits competitive catalytic activity (10.0 mA cm(-2) kinetic-limiting current density at -0.25 V) that is superior to that for mono N-doped carbon nanomaterials. This is because of a synergetic effect of N and S co-doping. Furthermore, the dual-doped catalyst also shows an efficient four-electron-dominant ORR process, which has excellent methanol tolerance and improved durability in comparison to commercial Pt/C catalysts.