One-step hydrothermal synthesis of nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes as an efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reactions

Lisong Chen; Xiangzhi Cui; Yongxia Wang; Min Wang; Fangming Cui; Chenyang Wei; Weimin Huang; Zile Hua; Lingxia Zhang; Jianlin Shi

doi:10.1002/asia.201402334

One-step hydrothermal synthesis of nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes as an efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reactions

Chem Asian J. 2014 Oct;9(10):2915-20. doi: 10.1002/asia.201402334. Epub 2014 Aug 5.

Authors

Lisong Chen¹, Xiangzhi Cui, Yongxia Wang, Min Wang, Fangming Cui, Chenyang Wei, Weimin Huang, Zile Hua, Lingxia Zhang, Jianlin Shi

Affiliation

¹ State Key Lab of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1295# Dingxi Rd., Shanghai, 200050 (P.R. China).

PMID: 25100339
DOI: 10.1002/asia.201402334

Abstract

A high amount of heteroatom doping in carbon, although favorable for enhanced density of catalytically active sites, may lead to substantially decreased electroconductivity, which is necessary for the electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction. Herein, a relatively low amount of nitrogen was successfully doped into carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by a hydrothermal approach in one step, and the synthesized nitrogen-doped CNT (CNT-N) materials retained most of the original, excellent characteristics, such as the graphitic structure, tubular morphology, and high surface area, of CNTs. The resultant CNT-N materials, although containing a relatively low amount of nitrogen doping, exhibited high electrocatalytic ORR activity, comparable to that of 20 wt% Pt/C; long durability; and, more importantly, largely inhibited methanol crossover effect.

Keywords: carbon; doping; electrochemistry; nanotubes; nitrogen.