Abstract
Three-dimensional multi-doped porous carbon/graphene (Fe-Mt-SS-C) was prepared by carbonization of sewage sludge with template-assisted Fe-pillared montmorillonite. The material consisted of nanosheet- and particle- carbon had a high specific surface area (784.46 m2·g−1) and hierarchical porous structure of micro-, meso- and macropores. The prepared Fe-Mt-SS-C had a high degree of graphitization and large amount of defect atoms. The pyrolysis process made full use of the C, N, Fe, and S by turning them into the carbon framework of the as-obtained material in situ. Template-assisted Fe-pillared montmorillonite contributed to more characteristics of morphology and composition on Fe-Mt-SS-C than other three materials (SS-C, Mt-SS-C and Fe-SS-C), and enhanced the electrocatalytic ORR activity by providing more adsorption sites and the electronic structure, resulting in the increase of conductivity and electrochemical activity. The ORR activity performance of Fe-Mt-SS-C, including the value of onset potential (0.03 V) and E1/2 (−0.09 V), was better than that of commercial 20 wt% Pt/C (−0.02 V and −0.18 V, respectively). Moreover, the Fe-Mt-SS-C possessed excellent durability and outstanding immunity toward methanol crossover effects. Therefore, the resultant Fe-Mt-SS-C has great potential to applied as a high-efficiency ORR electrocatalyst, more importantly, it realizes the utilization of the sludge at the same time.
Highlights
Three-dimensional multi-doped porous carbon/graphene (Fe-Mt-SS-C) was prepared by carbonization of sewage sludge with template-assisted Fe-pillared montmorillonite
Carbon materials are widely used as cathode catalytic materials in the fuel cell because of their numerous sources, low cost and good stability[6, 7]
Sludge pyrolysis can convert it into heteroatoms-doped carbon material, which can be used as a fuel cell cathode catalyst[30]
Summary
Meiqing Chen[1,2], Pingxiao Wu 1,2,3,4,5, Liya Chen[1,2], ShanshanYang[1,2], LangfengYu1,2,Yuefei Ding[1], Nengwu Zhu[1,4], Zhenqing Shi1,5 & Zehua Liu[1]. Montmorillonite (Mt), especially the modificated montmorillonite with expandable interlayer structure and chemical inertness siloxane surface, is thought to be the ideal template in converting carbon-rich organic compounds into three-dimensional carbon nanomaterials[35, 36] This green technology for recycling of sewage sludge has great research significance and a broad application prospect. We demonstrated a facile method for developing multi-doped porous carbon/graphene materials for oxygen reduction reaction by using sewage sludge as the sources of carbon and doped heteroatoms, and synergistic effect of template assist from Fe-pillared montmorillonite. The resultant multi-doped porous carbon/graphene materials had a high specific surface area and doped with heteroatoms exhibited excellent high ORR activity, remarkably ability for immune methanol crossover, and superior durability in alkaline medium, as compared to the other three prepared materials (SS-C, Mt-SS-C and Fe-SS-C) and the commercial 20 wt% Pt/C catalyst. Fe-Mt-SS-C appeared below was prepared under optimum condition if there was no special instruction
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