Abstract
We report a facile synthetic method for the preparation of a terpyridine-containing imine-rich graphene (IrGO-Tpy) using an acid-catalyzed dehydration reaction between graphene oxide (GO) and 4′-(aminophenyl)-2,2′:6′2″-terpyridine. Owing to the presence of terpyridine ligands, cobalt ions (Co2+) were readily incorporated into the IrGO-Tpy structures, affording a metal complex, denoted IrGo-Tpy-Co. Cyclic voltammetry and linear sweep voltammetry measurements confirm the noticeable oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activities of the IrGo-Tpy and IrGo-Tpy-Co electroacatalysts in alkaline electrolytes, along with the additional merits of high selectivity, excellent long-term durability, and good resistance to methanol crossover. In addition, a remarkable improvement in the ORR performance was observed for IrGO-Tpy-Co compared with that of IrGo-Tpy, arising from the significant contribution of the cobalt-terpyridine complex in facilitating the ORR process.
Highlights
Given the rising global energy demand and various environmental problems, the development of clean and sustainable energy resources has attracted great interest in both academia and industry
The performances of fuel cells are often impeded by the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at the cathode side
The onset potential and current density of IrGO‐Tpy‐Co are still lower than those of Pt/C (0.01 V and −5.18 mA/cm2, respectively), these results demonstrate the significant contributions of complexation between Co2+ ion and terpyridine for facilitating the ORR
Summary
Given the rising global energy demand and various environmental problems, the development of clean and sustainable energy resources has attracted great interest in both academia and industry. Fuel cell technology has become popular because of its advantages such as high energy conversion efficiency, lack of pollutant emission, long life cycle, and safety [1,2]. Platinum (Pt)-based materials have served as the most promising catalyst for the ORR, but they still suffer from many critical issues such as high cost, susceptibility to CO2 poisoning and methanol crossover, and poor long-term stability [3,4]. Enormous efforts have been devoted to developing non-precious metal or metal-free electrocatalysts for ORRs with high performance [3,5]. Nitrogen-doped (n-doped) graphene has emerged as a promising alternative to conventional Pt-based electrocatalysts, due to its unique advantages including low-cost, high selectivity, good electrocatalytic activity, and excellent long-term stability [3,6,7]
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