Boron-nitrogen-doped carbon dots on multi-walled carbon nanotubes for efficient electrocatalysis of oxygen reduction reactions

Yanfei Pei; Haoqiang Song; Yuan Liu; Yaojia Cheng; Weidong Li; Yumei Chen; Yanping Fan; Baozhong Liu; Siyu Lu

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2021.05.089

Boron-nitrogen-doped carbon dots on multi-walled carbon nanotubes for efficient electrocatalysis of oxygen reduction reactions

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2021 Oct 15:600:865-871. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2021.05.089. Epub 2021 May 18.

Authors

Yanfei Pei¹, Haoqiang Song², Yuan Liu³, Yaojia Cheng⁴, Weidong Li², Yumei Chen⁵, Yanping Fan¹, Baozhong Liu⁶, Siyu Lu⁷

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University, No. 2001 Century Avenue, Jiaozuo City 454000, China.
² Green Catalysis Center, College of Chemistry, Zhengzhou University, No. 100 Science Avenue, Zhengzhou City 450001, China.
³ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou City 450001, China.
⁴ Henan Institute of Advanced Technology, Zhengzhou University, No. 100 Science Avenue, Zhengzhou City 450001, China.
⁵ College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University, No. 2001 Century Avenue, Jiaozuo City 454000, China. Electronic address: chenyumei@hpu.edu.cn.
⁶ College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University, No. 2001 Century Avenue, Jiaozuo City 454000, China. Electronic address: bzliu@hpu.edu.cn.
⁷ Green Catalysis Center, College of Chemistry, Zhengzhou University, No. 100 Science Avenue, Zhengzhou City 450001, China. Electronic address: sylu2013@zzu.edu.cn.

PMID: 34052535
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2021.05.089

Abstract

Cost-effective production of metal-free catalysts for the oxygen-reduction reaction (ORR), to supersede Pt-based catalysts, is challenging. Here, a three-dimensional nanocatalyst was prepared by compounding multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with easily modified and doped carbon dots (CDs) as sources of B and N. The catalyst has high conductivity and a large specific surface area similar to the MWCNTs, allowing exposure of many CDs with rich edge active sites and enhancing electron transfer. The catalyst exhibits excellent ORR performance, with 0.92 V of E_onset vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). The E_1/2 value exhibits a reduction of 50 mV compared with that of Pt/C (0.85 V) with a limited current density of 5.95 mA cm^-2. The enhanced catalytic performance is attributed to the synergy of pyridine N and BC₃. This work describes a simple and economical strategy for metal-free catalysts, and promotes the development of such catalysts for metal-air batteries and fuel cells.

Keywords: B, N co-doping; Carbon dots; Electrocatalysis; Oxygen reduction reaction.