Preparation of nitrogen-doped graphitic carboncages as electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction

Nitrogen-doped carbon nanomaterials have been attracted increasing research interests in lithium-O-2 and Zinc-O-2 batteries, ultracapacitors and fuel cells. Herein, nitrogen-doped graphitic carboncages (NGCs) have been prepared by mesoporous Fe2O3 as a catalyst and lysine as a nitrogen doped carbon source. Due to the catalysis of Fe2O3, the N-GCs have a high graphitization degree at a low temperature, which is detected by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectrometer. Simultaneously, the heteroatom nitrogen is in-situ doped into carbon network. Therefore, the excellent electrocatalysis performance for oxygen reduction reaction is expected. The electrochemical measurement indicates that The N-GCs for oxygen reduction reaction in O-2-saturated 0.1 mol L-1 KOH show a four-electron transfer process and exhibit excellent electrocatalytic activity (E-ORR = -0.05 V vs. Ag/AgCl) and good stability (i/io = 90% at -0.35 V after 4000 s with a rotation rate of 1600 rpm). (c) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.