| Title | A catalyst-free synthesis of B, N co-doped graphene nanostructures with tunable dimensions as highly efficient metal free dual electrocatalysts |
| Authors | Tabassum, Hassina Zou, Ruqiang Mahmood, Asif Liang, Zibin Guo, Shaojun |
| Affiliation | Peking Univ, Coll Engn, Dept Mat Sci & Engn, Beijing Key Lab Theory & Technol Adv Battery Mat, Beijing 100871, Peoples R China. |
| Keywords | OXYGEN REDUCTION REACTION HYDROGEN-EVOLUTION REACTION CARBON NANOTUBES ACTIVE-SITES NITROGEN BORON BCN NANOCRYSTALS SULFUR FILMS |
| Issue Date | 2016 |
| Publisher | JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY A |
| Citation | JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY A.2016,4(42),16469-16475. |
| Abstract | The search for highly efficient earth-abundant carbon nanomaterials with Pt-like electrocatalytic activity for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is still a great challenge. Herein, we present a new catalyst-free synthetic strategy of self-squeezing and rolling of B, N co-doped graphene nanosheets to nanotubes with tunable dimensions and atomic bonds as metal-free electrocatalysts for enhancing the ORR and HER using (polyethylene glycol (PEG)) as the directing agent. We found that the PEG with a higher molecular weight favors the formation of B, N co-doped graphene nanosheets with a high concentration of B-N bonds in a carbon framework whereas the one with a lower molecular weight leads to B, N co-doped graphene nanotubes (BCN nanotubes) with segregated B-C and N-C bonds. The as-prepared graphene nanostructures show interesting atomic bonds and dimension-dependent electrocatalytic activity towards the ORR and HER with BCN nanotubes being the best. The BCN nanotubes show Pt-like ORR activity and much better ORR stability than commercial Pt/C catalysts. They also exhibit excellent HER activity with a very low overpotential and a small Tafel slope of 92 mV dec(-1). The present work highlights the importance of tuning atomic bonds and dimensions of carbon nanomaterials for achieving highly efficient electrocatalysts for the ORR and HER. |
| URI | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11897/459170 |
| ISSN | 2050-7488 |
| DOI | 10.1039/c6ta07214c |
| Indexed | SCI(E) |
| Appears in Collections: | 工学院 先进电池材料料理论与技术北京市重点实验室 |
