Short-range amorphous carbon nanosheets for oxygen reduction electrocatalysis.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Catalysis

Background:

• Developing efficient electrocatalysts is crucial for sustainable metal-air batteries and fuel cells.
• Creating active sites that function across different media remains a significant challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and synthesize novel nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheets (NCS) with enhanced electrocatalytic activity.
• To investigate the performance of NCS in oxygen reduction reactions (ORR) across various electrolytes.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of NCS using a flexible salt-assisted calcination strategy.
• Characterization of the short-range amorphous and partially graphitized porous carbon architecture.
• Electrochemical evaluation of NCS for ORR in alkaline and acidic media.

Main Results:

• NCS exhibited high ORR electrocatalytic performance with a half-wave potential (E 1/2) of 0.832 V in alkaline and 0.64 V in acidic electrolytes.
• The performance in alkaline media was comparable to commercial platinum on carbon (Pt/C).
• The NCS demonstrated robust stability with minimal activity loss after accelerated testing.

Conclusions:

• The unique structure of NCS promotes active site exposure and maintains stability and conductivity.
• These metal-free carbon electrocatalysts offer a promising, sustainable alternative for energy conversion devices.
• This work provides inspiration for designing high-performance carbon nanomaterials for electrochemical reactions.