A resin-based methodology to synthesize N-doped graphene-like metal-free catalyst for oxygen reduction

• Published in: Electrochimica acta 2014-10, Vol.142, p.182-186
• Main Authors: Kang, Shuai, Shen, Pei Kang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Electrochemistry; Ion exchange resin; Metal-free catalyst; N-doped grapheme-like catalyst; Oxygen reduction reaction
• ISSN: 0013-4686; 1873-3859
• DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2014.07.100

The N-doped graphene-like metal-free catalyst with hierarchical porous structure has been synthesized by an ion-exchange resin methodology and the catalyst shows an onset potential of 0.99V and a relatively good stability compared to Pt/C catalyst in acidic media. •A novel resin methodology is used to synthesize N-doped graphene-like metal-free catalyst.•The catalyst shows high performance for oxygen reduction with the onset potential of 0.99V.•The catalyst is better in stability compared with the commercial Pt/C catalyst. An ion-exchange resin-based methodology has been used to synthesize the N-doped graphene-like metal-free catalyst (NGMFC). This catalyst is hierarchical porous structured with high surface area. In acidic media, the NGMFC shows a high electrocatalytic performance and good stability towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in rotating ring-disk electrode measurements. The onset potential of the catalyst for ORR is 0.99V which is very close the onset potential of Pt/C catalyst. This research demonstrates that the ion-exchange resin-based methodology can be a potential alternative to produce efficient metal-free catalyst at extremely low cost for ORR.