Carbon-Supported Copper-Based Nitrogen-Containing Supramolecule as an Efficient Oxygen Reduction Reaction Catalyst in Neutral Medium

Abstract

Abstract:In this work, a nitrogen-containing bidentate ligand named 5,5 -(9-octyl-9H-carbazole-2,7-diyl)bis(1,10-phenanthroline) (OCBP) was synthesized as a nitrogen precursor for making an oxygen reduction catalyst. The 1,10-phenanthroline unit provides a coordination site for copper ions, and the resulting Cu-N x unit may be responsible for the catalytic activities of the catalyst. Carbon black was selected as a support to improve the electroconductibility of the resulting catalyst. The metallo-supramolecule (Cu-SOCBP) was dispersed on the surface of Vulcan XC-72 carbon and was used as a catalyst (designated as Cu-SOCBP/C) for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The microscope structure and surface components of the catalyst were acquired via scanning electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, as well as X-ray powder diffraction. The electrochemical property and ORR mechanism of Cu-SOCBP/C were analyzed using a variety of electroanalytical methods including cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and linear sweep voltammetry. These results show that Cu-SOCBP/C was successfully synthesized and that ORR was achieved mainly via a four-electron transfer process to water. Thus, Cu-SOCBP/C was an effective catalyst and might have potential application as a cathodic catalyst in microbial fuel cells, which operate in an aqueous medium.

Medium Modulated Oxygen Reduction Activity of Fe/Co Active Centre‐engrafted Electrocatalysts

“…An intense peak centered at a 2θ value of 25°appeared, which was attributed to the graphitic carbon present in the system. [26] The high intensity of this peak also indicates the graphitic carbon as the major phase of the system. In the case of CoÀ N-GVC, the two less intense peaks appeared at the 2θ values of 44.4 and 51.6°are attributed to the CoN x phase (ICDD reference code: 00-041-0943).…”

Carbon Supported Multi-Branch Nitrogen-Containing Polymers as Oxygen Reduction Catalysts

“…The n value and the X H2O2 value could be calculated by the next equation as below [39]. (12) where N is the collection efficiency (43%) of H 2 O 2 and I r and I d are the limiting ring current and the limiting disk current, respectively. As shown in Figure 13a,b, the X H2O2 values in the potential range of −0.3 V-0.3 V were 62-76% and 1.5-4.5% for PMPhen/C and PMPhen-Cu/C, respectively.…”

“…Significant progresses had been made on the study of high performance ORR catalysts in the past few decades, such as Pt-based alloys [8], non-precious metal alloys [9], metal-free catalyst [1,2], metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) [10] and transition-metal complexes with nitrogen-containing polymer supported on carbon nanomaterials (such as graphitic arrays, carbon nanotubes, graphene and porous carbons) [11,12]. Some of them showed comparable catalytic activities to that of commercially available Pt/C and possessed the potentiality for commercialization [8][9][10][11][12]. According to the statistics of the existing literature, the non-platinum nitrogen-containing carbon materials are the hot topics Figure 1a that the carbon particles irregularly aggregate to form a porous structure, and the particle size is 35-60 nm.…”

The Effects of Coordinated Molecules of Two Gly-Schiff Base Copper Complexes on Their Oxygen Reduction Reaction Performance

“…Afterward, 1.6 mg of the complex was added to the above suspension, and the mixture was subjected to another hour of ultrasonic dispersion, and the resultant catalyst slurry was finally obtained. Before the fabrication of each of the catalyst composite, the working electrode (WE) was cleaned with Al 2 O 3 (0.3 µm) slurry to ensure the electrode met test needs [34,35].…”