N- and S-doped high surface area carbon derived from soya chunks as scalable and efficient electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction

Abstract

Highly stable, cost-effective electrocatalysts facilitating oxygen reduction are crucial for the commercialization of membrane-based fuel cell and battery technologies. Herein, we demonstrate that protein-rich soya chunks with a high content of N, S and P atoms are an excellent precursor for heteroatom-doped highly graphitized carbon materials. The materials are nanoporous, with a surface area exceeding 1000 m2 g−1, and they are tunable in doping quantities. These materials exhibit highly efficient catalytic performance toward oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) with an onset potential of −0.045 V and a half-wave potential of −0.211 V (versus a saturated calomel electrode) in a basic medium, which is comparable to commercial Pt catalysts and is better than other recently developed metal-free carbon-based catalysts. These exhibit complete methanol tolerance and a performance degradation of merely ∼5% as compared to ∼14% for a commercial Pt/C catalyst after continuous use for 3000 s at the highest reduction current. We found that the fraction of graphitic N increases at a higher graphitization temperature, leading to the near complete reduction of oxygen. It is believed that due to the easy availability of the precursor and the possibility of genetic engineering to homogeneously control the heteroatom distribution, the synthetic strategy is easily scalable, with further improvement in performance.

Facile synthesis of mesoporous carbon material from treated kitchen waste for energy applications

“…It shows that the treatment of the organic manure with the poultry faeces has resulted in an increased N content in the sample SKC2. It is important to say here that the doped N content in all the samples is either comparable or higher than previously reported biomass-derived PCM-based electrocatalysts [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39]. It again signifies the utilization of kitchen waste-based organic manure for the electrocatalytic applications in futuristic clean energy devices.…”

Enhancing Catalyst Efficiency of Activated Carbon for Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Air Cathode Microbial Fuel Cell Application

“…All heteroatoms have a greater or lesser attraction for electrons than carbon does. Thus, each bond between a carbon and a heteroatom is polar, therefore, integrating heteroatoms, such as Nitrogen [63,64], Phosphorus [32,65], Sulfur [66], and Boron [67] into the carbon framework has been demonstrated to largely enhance properties like: surface polarity, semi-conducting, fieldemission, mechanical, and electrical behaviors of carbon materials [68]. Heteroatoms breaks electro-neutrality of adjacent carbon atoms, creating complementary charged sites on which oxygen can be absorbed and reduced; thus demonstrating high-efficiency ORR catalytic activities [69].…”

Non-Precious Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Alkaline Media: Latest Achievements on Novel Carbon Materials

“…Fe/N co-doped graphitic carbon bulb electrocatalyst was prepared using only Prussian blue as precursor; exhibiting 0.81 V vs. RHE half-wave potential [76]. [74], [75], [77], [73], [76], [78], [80], [79]). …”

“…Its high activity was attributed also to the encapsulation of Fe into N-doped carbon's matrix and its synergetic effect with nitrogen via stabilizing the peroxide intermediate. Another kind of alternative-precursor, soya plant, which is rich in proteins, can lead to multiheteroatom-doped (S-N-P) carbon electrocatalysts after the appropriate treatment [78]. More precisely, the as prepared electrocatalyst exhibited 0.79 V vs. RHE half-wave potential for ORR and was inactive in presence of 1.25 M methanol.…”