Issue 8, 2018

Graphene-wrapped nitrogen-doped hollow carbon spheres for high-activity oxygen electroreduction

Abstract

Graphene wrapping could be used to improve the electrochemical performance of electrodes via the formation of an effective “plane-to-point” conductive network to promote fast electron transfer to the active sites. In this paper, a series of N-doped hollow carbon spheres wrapped by flexible graphene nanosheets (NGCs) have been successfully prepared by the self-assembly of graphene oxide nanosheets onto the surface of hollow polymer spheres, followed by pyrolysis in flowing ammonia. The as-synthesized NGCs show unique hierarchical nanostructures, large hollow cores, large surface areas, and high relative contents of pyridinic and graphitic N groups, as well as uniform wrapping of graphene layers outside of the carbon spheres. The metal-free NGCs show much better activity for the electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction with a larger limiting current density and lower onset potential than those without graphene wrapping. They also showed superior long-term stability and fuel crossover effect to commercial Pt/C. These results indicate that graphene wrapping is an effective strategy for improving the activity of electrocatalytic materials via constructing a fast electron transfer network.

Graphical abstract: Graphene-wrapped nitrogen-doped hollow carbon spheres for high-activity oxygen electroreduction

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Research Article
Submitted
10 Apr 2018
Accepted
27 May 2018
First published
28 May 2018

Mater. Chem. Front., 2018,2, 1489-1497

Graphene-wrapped nitrogen-doped hollow carbon spheres for high-activity oxygen electroreduction

R. Ma, R. Xing, G. Lin, Y. Zhou, Q. Liu, M. Yang, C. Hu, K. Yan and J. Wang, Mater. Chem. Front., 2018, 2, 1489 DOI: 10.1039/C8QM00160J

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