Heavily nitrogen-doped acetylene black as a high-performance catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction

Carbon Black (CB) is one of the most abundantly produced carbon nanostructured materials, and approximately 70% of it is used as pigment and as reinforcing phase in rubber and plastics. Recent scientific findings report on other uses of CB that are of current interest, such as renewable energy harvesting and carbon capture. The present review focuses on the use and role of CB in renewable and environmental applications relevant to contemporary global challenges focusing specifically on clean energy. Key and recent research on the structure and chemistry of CB, including its uses as precursors to graphene quantum dots and hollow carbon spheres, is discussed in relation to renewable energy devices, electrochemical energy storage and environmental remediation. The surface chemistry of CB is closely related to that of graphitic and of turbostratic carbons through the predominant hexagonal carbon lattice from graphene fragments forming its basic structural units. Consequently, modern methods for grafting polymers and functional groups are easily translated to this abundant nanostructured material. Moreover, recent advances in electron microscopy that probe the structure of CB, and its electronic and physicochemical properties in nanocomposites revived the attention of what is wrongfully considered as a scientifically uninspiring material with limited potential for future technology breakthrough. CB has the potential to surge as a key player in renewable energy and environmental applications, meaning "When Black Turns Green".

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“…[214]. The SSAs increased from 77m 2 /g for acetylene black to ~140m 2 /g for the Mn-free, N-doped CB.…”

mentioning

confidence: 92%

Carbon black reborn: Structure and chemistry for renewable energy harnessing

Khodabakhshi

Fulvio

Andreoli

2020

Carbon

223

104

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“…The most active catalyst for ORR, platinum‐based catalysts, cannot be widely used on account of their high cost, inferior long‐term durability and low tolerance to the intermediate products in fuel cells . Developing cheap, high‐activity low‐ or non‐platinum catalysts is the immediate way to solve these problems. In the last decade, heteroatom‐doped (N, P, S, B) carbon materials were thought to be a promising alternative to platinum in the ORR .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cobalt and Nitrogen Codoped Carbon Nanosheets Templated from NaCl as Efficient Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalysts

Zhou

Zhao

Sui

et al. 2018

Chemistry An Asian Journal

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The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in a cathode is an essential component of many electrochemical energy storage and conversion systems. Two-dimensional materials are beneficial for electron conduction and mass transport with high density, showing prominent electrochemical catalytic performance towards the ORR. Herein, a simple NaCl-assisted method to synthesize cobalt-nitrogen-doped carbon materials (CoNC), which present prominent performance towards the ORR in alkaline media, is described. The utilization of the NaCl template endows the product with a large specific surface area of 556.4 m g , as well as good dispersion of cobalt nanoparticles. CoNC-800@NaCl (800 indicates the calcination temperature in °C) displays an excellent onset potential of 0.94 V (vs. a reversible hydrogen electrode), which is close to that of commercial Pt/C. Additionally, CoNC-800@NaCl also exhibits better long-term durability and methanol tolerance than that of Pt/C. The high-performance CoNC-800@NaCl catalyst provides a hopeful alternative to noble-metal catalysts for the ORR in practical applications.

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“…It is therefore essential to incorporate both electrochemical activity and conductivity into one carbon as “all in one” energy storage and conversion materials, thus realizing the low carbon energy technology. [ 10–12 ]…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is therefore essential to incorporate both electrochemical activity and conductivity into one carbon as "all in one" energy storage and conversion materials, thus realizing the low carbon energy technology. [10][11][12] For instance, the attempts of enhancing the conductivity of active carbon materials applied in high-power density and sustainable carbon-based SCs have never ceased, due to the addition of extra conductive carbon additives that would deteriorate its originally low energy density. [13] Although many designed heteroatom-doped carbon materials have been celebrated for providing excellent electrical conductivity, [14][15][16] yet in most cases, the application of a conductive carbon is still mandatory for the electrode engineering.…”

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confidence: 99%

Highly Conductive Nitrogen‐Doped sp²/sp³ Hybrid Carbon as a Conductor‐Free Charge Storage Host

Wang

Chen

et al. 2022

Adv Funct Materials

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It is commonly accepted that the increased degree of graphitization leads to a higher electrical conductivity of carbon materials. However, more and more evidence reveals that heteroatom doping on carbon host can also improve the conductivity, owing to the dopant atoms contributing to higher charge delocalization and density of donor states near Fermi level. The reality is, such conductivity improvement from doping is often overwhelmed by graphitized carbon. Although heteroatom‐doped carbon is widely used as active materials in the fields of energy storage and electrocatalysis, which still requires extra carbon‐based conductive additives to enhance the overall conductivity. In this stu, it is demonstrated that the electrical conductivity of finely designed nitrogen‐doped carbon is even beyond the commercialized carbon conductors over 3.5 times, endowing such conductive agent‐free electrode material an excellent performance in an all‐solid‐state flexible supercapacitor. The theoretical simulation further demonstrates that N‐doped sp2/sp3 hybrid carbon can migrate the Fermi level to the conduction band, leading to an n‐type conductivity due to the additional electrons caused by the N dopant.

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Heavily nitrogen-doped acetylene black as a high-performance catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction

Cited by 32 publications

References 53 publications

Carbon black reborn: Structure and chemistry for renewable energy harnessing

Carbon black reborn: Structure and chemistry for renewable energy harnessing

Cobalt and Nitrogen Codoped Carbon Nanosheets Templated from NaCl as Efficient Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalysts

Highly Conductive Nitrogen‐Doped sp²/sp³ Hybrid Carbon as a Conductor‐Free Charge Storage Host

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Heavily nitrogen-doped acetylene black as a high-performance catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction

Cited by 32 publications

References 53 publications

Carbon black reborn: Structure and chemistry for renewable energy harnessing

Carbon black reborn: Structure and chemistry for renewable energy harnessing

Cobalt and Nitrogen Codoped Carbon Nanosheets Templated from NaCl as Efficient Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalysts

Highly Conductive Nitrogen‐Doped sp2/sp3 Hybrid Carbon as a Conductor‐Free Charge Storage Host

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Highly Conductive Nitrogen‐Doped sp²/sp³ Hybrid Carbon as a Conductor‐Free Charge Storage Host