Abstract
In this study, polypyrrole/toluene sulfonic acid-based nitrogen doped carbon nanotube (NCNT) is synthesized via chemical oxidative polymerization followed by high-temperature heat treatment under N2 atmosphere. The structure, morphology and composition of the NCNT catalyst are investigated with X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy. Different N species including pyridinic, pyrrolic, graphitic, and oxidized-N are quantitatively determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The electrocatalytic activity of NCNT towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline condition is evaluated with cyclic voltammetry (CV) and rotating disk electrode (RDE). The globular and tubular structure of NCNT can be clearly seen from SEM images. The typical Raman spectrum for NCNT showed two prominent bands around 1348 cm-1 (D band) and 1568 cm-1 (G band). High-resolution XPS spectrum of N 1s for NCNT showed that graphitic-N has the highest percentage (39.36%), whereas the pyridinic-N (26.54%), pyrrolic-N (18.88%) and oxidized-N (15.22%). The ORR electrocatalytic activity of the NCNT in 0.1 M KOH has the onset potential of -0.154 V vs. Ag/AgCl, the current density 0.455 mA/cm2, and electron transfer number of n ≈ 4. Â
Highlights
Development of new and sustainable energy sources is one of the major topics in recent years due to rapidly growing energy demand and environmental pollution
Many researchers found that the bonding configuration of N-atoms incorporated to the surface of carbon materials is important for the electrocatalytic activity towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) [15,16]
Catalysts were synthesized by chemical oxidative polymerization using different composition of polypyrrole (PPy) as N sources and toluene sulfonic acid (TsOH) as S source, followed by high temperature heat treatment
Summary
Development of new and sustainable energy sources is one of the major topics in recent years due to rapidly growing energy demand and environmental pollution. Nitrogen-doped carbon nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotube [9], graphenes [10], graphites [11], graphitic [12], and amorphous carbon [13] showed potential as non-metal electrocatalysts for ORR in fuel cells application. Among these carbon nanomaterials, carbon nanotubes (CNT) have been widely used as a non-metal catalyst in fuel cell applications due to high electrical conductivity, good chemical and thermal stability [14]. The activities towards ORR in alkaline media were measured using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and rotating disk electrode (RDE)
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