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Synergistic effects of microstructures and active nitrogen content on the oxygen reduction reaction performance of nitrogen-doped carbon nanofibers via KOH activation heat treatment

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Abstract

A series of nitrogen-doped carbon nanofibers (N-CNFs) have been successfully synthesized via electrospinning N,N-dimethylformamide/polyacrylonitrile followed by KOH activation heat treatment. The electrocatalysts are thoroughly studied with X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscopy, nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, respectively, and electrochemical method. The time of KOH activation heat treatment is found to yield a considerable effect on crystallinity, microstructure, chemical surface states, the total content of nitrogen and the active nitrogen configurations in all samples. The resulting N-CNFs-3.0 h catalyst shows remarkable advantages for ORR performance, including porous microstructures, high specific surface area, abundant exposed active sites and high content of ORR-active pyridinic-N. With these favorable features, N-CNFs-3.0 h exhibits an overall distinguished ORR performance in alkaline media compared to commercial 20 wt% Pt/C catalyst, which has a high onset potential of 0.9 V (vs. RHE), half-wave potential of 0.83 V (vs. RHE) and electron transfer number (3.93). The superior ORR of N-CNFs-3.0 h mainly originates from the synergistic effect of porous microstructures and high ORR-active pyridinic-N content, which could be optimized by changing KOH activation time. This work presents a facile strategy to controllably design and fabricate highly active ORR metal-free carbon-based electrocatalysts.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants No.: 51272187 and Grants No.: 11704288), the Science and Technology Supporting Program of Hubei province (Grants No.: 2015BAA093, 2013CFA012), the Scientific Project provided by Wuhan Government (Grants No.: 2016010101010026) and the Youth Innovation Talents Program of Guangzhou Maritime University (2014E073, G410304).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Provincial Key Laboratory of Plasma Chemistry and Advanced Materials, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan, 430073, China

    Wang Shenggao, Hu Wen, Zhou Mingchen, Gao Yuan, Deng Quanrong, Mao Yangwu & Wang Geming

  2. Department of Basic Courses, Guangzhou Maritime University, Guangzhou, 510725, China

    Xu Qinfang

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  1. Wang Shenggao
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  2. Hu Wen
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  3. Zhou Mingchen
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  4. Gao Yuan
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Correspondence to Wang Geming.

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Shenggao, W., Wen, H., Mingchen, Z. et al. Synergistic effects of microstructures and active nitrogen content on the oxygen reduction reaction performance of nitrogen-doped carbon nanofibers via KOH activation heat treatment. J Mater Sci 55, 10725–10739 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-020-04673-9

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