Construction of a porous nitrogen-doped carbon nanotube with open-ended channels to effectively utilize the active sites for excellent oxygen reduction reaction activity

Abstract

We rationally designed and controllably fabricated a well-defined porous nitrogen-doped carbon nanotube with open-ended channels as a catalyst for the ORR by a twice pseudomorphic transformation of MnO₂ nanotubes. The as-prepared O-NCNT catalysts exhibit an expectably remarkable performance, indicating the potential for replacing Pt-based catalysts in fuel cells and metal–air batteries.