Melamine‐Induced N,S‐Codoped Hierarchically Porous Carbon Nanosheets for Enhanced Electrocatalytic Oxygen Reduction

Abstract

AbstractExploring an efficient strategy to enhance the catalytic oxygen reduction performance of carbon‐based catalysts is of great significance in the field of electrocatalysis. In this work, through a facile polymerization‐carbonization approach under the regulation of melamine, N,S‐codoped hierarchically porous carbon nanosheets with controllable morphology are fabricated by using polyaniline as the precursor. The resultant catalysts have favorable features of the synergetic effect of N,S co‐doping and the advanced structural property with high specific surface area and hierarchical pore structure, contributing to an encouraging onset potential (Eonset = 0.94 V) in alkaline media, comparable to that of Pt/C catalysts, as well as excellent electrochemical stability and methanol tolerance. By rationally adjusting the experimental parameters, the mechanism of melamine on the formation of final porous nanosheet structure during high‐temperature pyrolysis is clarified, and the optimal experimental conditions for the superior catalysts are also discussed. Furthermore, a rechargeable Zn‐air battery constructed with the resulting materials exhibits desirable performance with low charge‐discharge gap and impressive life‐span. This contribution would supply some novel inspiration to design carbon‐based materials with desired features for energy‐related technologies.