Issue 24, 2014

A cobalt–nitrogen complex on N-doped three-dimensional graphene framework as a highly efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction

Abstract

The high cost and limited natural abundance of platinum hinder its widespread applications as the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalyst for fuel cells. Carbon-supported materials containing metals such as Fe or Co as well as nitrogen have been proposed to reduce the cost without obvious lowering the performance compared to Pt-based electrocatalysts. In this work, based on the pyrolyzed corrin structure of vitamin B12 on the simultaneously reduced graphene support (g-VB12), we construct an efficient oxygen reduction electrocatalyst with very positive half-wave potential (only ∼30 mV deviation from Pt/C), high selectivity (electron transfer number close to 4) and excellent durability (only 11 mV shift of the half-wave potential after 10 000 potential cycles). The admirable performance of this electrocatalyst can be attributed to the homogeneous distribution of abundant Co–Nx active sites, and a well-defined three-dimensional mesoporous structure of the N-doped graphene support. The high activity and long-term stability of the low cost g-VB12 make it a promising ORR electrocatalyst in alkaline fuel cells.

Graphical abstract: A cobalt–nitrogen complex on N-doped three-dimensional graphene framework as a highly efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
29 Jul 2014
Accepted
03 Oct 2014
First published
06 Oct 2014

Nanoscale, 2014,6, 15066-15072

Author version available

A cobalt–nitrogen complex on N-doped three-dimensional graphene framework as a highly efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction

Y. Jiang, Y. Lu, X. Wang, Y. Bao, W. Chen and L. Niu, Nanoscale, 2014, 6, 15066 DOI: 10.1039/C4NR04295F

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements