Facile Oxygen-promoted Synthesis of Cu, N Co-doped Carbon Composites for Oxygen Reduction

Abstract

A new strategy to fabricate oxygen-promoted Cu,N co-doped carbon (OP-CuN@C) composites is reported. The strategy consists of only two simple steps: chemical polymerization and high temperature carbonization. Electrochemical measurements were conducted to investigate the catalytic activity and mechanism of ORR on the resulting samples. All the electrochemical results indicate that OP-CuN@C exhibits the best ORR catalytic activity. The ORR onset potential of OP-CuN@C is slightly lower than that of commercial Pt/C catalyst. The good performance is attributed to the large specific surface area, high content of heteroatoms (pyridinic, graphitic nitrogen, and oxygen atom) and synergistic effect between divalent copper and nitrogen dopant.

Keywords

oxygen reduction reaction / oxygen promotion / OP-CuN@C / chemical polymerization approach / high temperature carbonized method

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