Synthesis of Nitrogen‐Doped Porous Carbon Nanocubes as a Catalyst Support for Methanol Oxidation

Abstract

Nitrogen-doped porousc arbon nanocubes with ah igh surface area synthesized by carbonizing Prussian blue nanocubes coated with poly(fururyla lcohol) were used to support Pt nanoparticles as an electrocatalyst for the oxidation of methanol. The resulting catalyste xhibited excellent electrocatalytic activity and electrochemical stability, owning to its high surface area, au niform dispersion of Pt particles, and enhanced interaction between the particles and the support.Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) are considered someo ft he most promising energy sourcesf or portable devices and mobile applications. [1] However,t heir applications on al arge scale are limited by the high costs associated with the use of noble metal electrocatalysts (e.g. Pt)a nd the operational durability of the anode. [2] Thus, increasing the catalytic activity of Pt-based catalysts and decreasing the Pt loading are very important for the development of DMFCs. [3] Carbon black supported Pt or Pt-based alloys have been widely investigated and used as electrocatalysts for the electro-oxidation of methanol. [4] However,P tn anoparticles (NPs) can be trapped in the deep cracks of carbon black, which thus reduces the utilization of Pt. [5] To tackle these issues, improving the dispersion of Pt or Pd-baseda lloys in ap orouss upport is ap romising way to increase the utilization of Pt catalyst. Differentc arbon materials including carbon nanotubes, [6] graphene, [7] and nanoporous carbon [8] have been studied to improve the activities and stabilities of catalysts.Recently,m etal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have attracted increasing attention, because they can act as versatile precursors to preparec arbon,c arbon-metal composite, and metaloxide materials with high specific surfacea reas. [9] In particular, MOF-derived carbon materials show high specific surface areas, variousm orphologies, and heteroatom doping, which Supporting Information for this article can be foundu nder http:// dx.

Nickel nanoparticles supported on nitrogen-doped honeycomb-like carbon frameworks for effective methanol oxidation

“…12 Pt nanoparticles modied nitrogen doped porous carbon nanocubes were prepared for methanol oxidation, and the good electrocatalytic performances were arising from the uniform particle dispersion, high surface area, and the interaction between the support and Pt nanoparticles. 13 High nitrogen content doped mesoporous carbon supported Pd nanoparticles were used for biomass rening, achieving excellent catalytic conversion and selectivity. 14 Nowadays, the development of low-cost, scalable, economically attractive and sustainable carbon materials based on renewable and highly abundant resources is extremely important.…”

Toward Electrocatalytic Methanol Oxidation Reaction: Longstanding Debates and Emerging Catalysts

“…It is well known that reducing the size of catalysts would increase the number of exposed active sites and lead to improved MOR performance. [166,167] However, the catalytic activity cannot always be enhanced by reducing the size of catalysts. [168] It has been proved experimentally that when the size is smaller than 4.5 nm, the specific MOR activity decreased with decreasing Pt particle size.…”

Review—Heteroatom-Doped High Porous Carbon Metal Free Nanomaterials for Energy Storage and Conversion

“…Similar to N-CNTs, Ndoped graphene had excellent long-term operational stability, CO tolerance, and insensitivity to methanol. 37 All these nitrogen-doped carbons exhibit greatly enhanced oxygen reduction performance due to the doping-induced intramolecular charge redistribution, and the mechanism will be further discussed in the following section 1.3.2.…”

“…28 Carbon nanomaterials are also promising electrodes for supercapacitors 29 owing to their excellent conductivity and high double-layer capacitance. 18 More importantly, functionalized carbon nanomaterials exhibit excellent electrocatalytic activities towards different reactions, 15,17,[30][31][32][33][34][35][36]91,93 and nanocarbon are becoming cost-effective electrocatalysts in fuel cells, 37,38 water splitting system, and metal-air batteries for energy conversion. Nano carbons are also used in solar cells as light-harvesting media, photoactive layer ,61,62 and transparent electrodes 26,[63][64][65][66] Other applications of nano carbons include adhesive, 67 advanced highperformance composites (golf shafts, tennis rackets, etc.…”