Nitrogen-doped graphene-supported molybdenum dioxide electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction

Abstract

A simple one-step pyrolysis strategy has been developed to prepare molybdenum dioxide supported on nitrogen-doped graphene (MoO2/NG) as electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reactions (ORR). Homogeneous anchoring of MoO2 nanoparticles on nitrogen-doped graphene was achieved for the composite synthesized at 500 °C (MoO2/NG-500). For the first time, the MoO2/NG composite manifests considerable electrocatalytic activity for ORR in alkaline solution, with the onset potential of 0.91 V and the peak potential of 0.73 V. Furthermore, the MoO2/NG catalyst outperforms commercial Pt/C catalyst in terms of the electrochemical durability for ORR. The facile fabrication, reasonable ORR activity and excellent stability endow our MoO2/NG catalyst with great promise in application of cost-effective fuel cells.