Nitrogen‐Doped Inverse Opal Carbons Derived from an Ionic Liquid Precursor for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Abstract

AbstractThree‐dimensionally macroporous nitrogen‐doped carbon materials are fabricated via carbonization of an ionic‐liquid‐based small molecule precursor, 1‐ethyl‐3‐methylimidazolium dicyanamide, using opal silica colloidal crystals as a hard template. As compared to traditional polymerizable monomer‐based precursors such as furfuryl alcohol, the entire process involving ionic liquid does not require any acid catalyst and prepolymerization step. More importantly, nitrogen heteroatoms can be incorporated into the carbon skeleton in situ. The obtained inverse opal carbons possess large surface areas and pore volumes, and high nitrogen content. When acting as metal‐free electrocatalysts, the inverse opal carbons exhibit high catalytic activity and selectivity towards the oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline electrolyte, much better than that of the furfuryl‐alcohol‐derived inverse opal carbon and close to that of commercial Pt/C catalysts.