Sulfonated cobalt phthalocyanine-derived Co-N-S tridoped carbon nanotubes as platinum catalyst supports for highly efficient methanol electrooxidation

Abstract

Development of multiatom-doped carbon nanomaterials as effective electrocatalysts or supports for fuel cell reactions is of great significance due to their outstanding performance. However, the construction of the carbon nanomaterials with multiatom doping and the mechanism of interaction among doped elements remain grand challenging. Herein, we develop, for the first time, a simple and effective sulfonated cobalt phthalocyanine (TSCoPc) pyrolysis strategy to synthesize Co, N and S tri-doped multi-walled carbon nanotubes (Co-N-S-MWCNTs) in a one-pot approach, which are then used as supports for loading highly efficient Pt nanoparticles (Pt/Co-N-S-MWCNTs). Thanks to the rich atoms doped in MWCNTs and the fine sizes of deposited Pt nanoparticles (1.94 nm), which lead to high electro-catalytically active surface areas (111.6 m2 g−1), the fabricated Pt/Co-N-S-MWCNTs exhibit much higher electro-catalytic efficiency and relatively increased electrochemical stability for methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) in comparison with Pt loaded on AO-MWCNTs and TSCoPc-MWCNTs (the precursors and intermediates used to produce Co-N-S-MWCNTs). This study shows an easy and reproducible method for multiatom-doped carbon nanomaterials and illustrates the interaction between doped atoms and the deposited Pt nanoparticles, opening a promising avenue for producing highly efficient electrocatalysts in electrochemical energy technologies.