No cytotoxic nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes as efficient metal-free electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction in fuel cells

Abstract

Bamboo-like nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (NCNTs) with different nitrogen content have been synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) under different reaction temperature of 600–900 °C. The butylamine and FeY have been used as precursor and catalyst, respectively. The electrocatalytic property of the NCNTs catalyst in oxygen reduction was examined by cyclic voltammetry. The results revealed that the NCNTs catalyst has higher catalytic activity than the commonly used Pt/C catalyst (Pt-CNTs, 20% of Pt/C, BASF), suggesting potential applications in fuel cells. On the other hand, the cytotoxic effects of NCNTs materials showed no cytotoxic to SPCA-1 cells, of which Pt-CNTs and CNTs particles indicated notably high cytotoxic. From these results, more application fields might be found for NCNTs except for as cathodic catalyst in fuel cells (FCs).