High performance of N, P co-doped metal-free carbon catalyst derived from ionic liquid for oxygen reduction reaction

Abstract

One-pot strategy to fabricate N, P co-doping carbon was developed based on the functional ionic liquid (IL) as the N, P, and C precursors. The IL featuring both N and P in its structure was designed firstly and then pyrolyzed to obtain N, P co-doped carbon particles in nanoscale, which can be used as metal-free oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst. Electrochemical results showed that the carbon NPs were endowed with superior catalytic activity toward ORR and an onset potential of approximately 0.92 V in an electrolyte of 0.1 M KOH solution. Our results demonstrated that the ILs would be one promising precursor for the development of metal-free ORR catalyst co-doped with N and P.