Boron and nitrogen co-doped carbon dots for boosting electrocatalytic oxygen reduction
Abstract
Carbon dots (CDs) have become an emerging carbon nanomaterial for use in energy-conversion systems because of their large surface area and rapid electron transfer. Carbon dots (BN-CDs) doped with both boron and nitrogen were synthesized by a simple one-step electrochemical etching approach using low-cost petroleum coke as precursor. Compared with CDs doped with only B or N, BN-CDs showed an excellent four-electron oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity with a positive onset potential of 0.958 V and a large diffusion-limited current density of −4.32 mA cm −2. Furthermore, the long-term stability and methanol tolerance of BN-CDs were better than those of a commercial Pt/C catalyst. It was found by density functional theory (DFT) calculation that the co-doping of N and B promoted the adsorption of O2 molecules in the ORR process. This work provides new insight into the rational design of carbon nanomaterials and their use in energy conversion.
RAS ID
38801
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
2021
Volume
36
Issue
3
Funding Information
National Natural Science Foundation of China Taishan Scholar Project
School
School of Engineering
Copyright
subscription content
Publisher
Elsevier
Comments
Liu, H., Liu, Z. H., Zhang, J. Q., Zhi, L. J., & Wu, M. B. (2021). Boron and nitrogen co-doped carbon dots for boosting electrocatalytic oxygen reduction. New Carbon Materials, 36(3), 585-593. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1872-5805(21)60043-4