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Updated: Mar 21, 2026

Synthesis of Metal Nanoparticles Supported on Carbon Nanotube with Doped Co and N Atoms and its Catalytic Applications in Hydrogen Production
Published on: December 6, 2021
Sulfur and Nitrogen Codoped Carbon Tubes as Bifunctional Metal-Free Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction and
Tao Sun1, Qiang Wu2, Yufei Jiang1
1Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE and, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Life Sciences, Jiangsu Provincial Laboratory for Nanotechnology, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, P. R. China.
Abstract:
The technological combination of fuel cells with water electrolysis is an ideal approach to address the problems of growing energy needs and environmental pollution, in which exploring cheap and stable electrocatalysts is the main challenge. Sulfur and nitrogen codoped carbon tubes (SNCTs), prepared by annealing the mixture of amorphous carbonaceous tubes and cysteine, are found to be active bifunctional metal-free electrocatalysts for both oxygen reduction and hydrogen evolution in acidic medium. The optimized SNCT catalyst exhibits a record high onset potential of 851 mV (vs. RHE) for oxygen reduction and concurrent a low overpotential of 76 mV for hydrogen evolution, with superior stability and low cost. The SNCT electrocatalyst could have great potential in proton exchange membrane fuel cells and water splitting devices.

