Flexible nitrogen-doped graphene/carbon nanotube/Co3O4 paper and its oxygen reduction activity

Shan-Shan Li; Huai-Ping Cong; Ping Wang; Shu-Hong Yu

doi:10.1039/C4NR02101K

Flexible nitrogen-doped graphene/carbon nanotube/Co₃O₄ paper and its oxygen reduction activity†

Shan-Shan Li,^a Huai-Ping Cong,*^ab Ping Wang^a and Shu-Hong Yu*^a

* Corresponding authors

^a Division of Nanomaterials & Chemistry, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, P. R. China
E-mail: shyu@ustc.edu.cn, hpcong@hfut.edu.cn
Fax: +86 551 63603040

^b Anhui Key Laboratory of Controllable Chemical Reaction and Material Chemical Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, Anhui, P. R. China
E-mail: hpcong@hfut.edu.cn

Abstract

Due to the demand of an efficient, inexpensive and scalable synthesis of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst for practical application in fuel cell, we demonstrate a facile strategy to fabricate the flexible nitrogen-doped graphene/carbon nanotube/Co₃O₄ (NG/CNT/Co₃O₄) paper catalyst. In the hydrothermal process, the in situ formation of Co₃O₄ nanoparticles, reduction of GO and doping of nitrogen species occur simultaneously in the assembled paper in ammonia solution. Because of the synergistic effects of three active components and the spacing effect of CNTs and Co₃O₄ nanoparticles on avoiding the re-aggregation of assembled graphene nanosheets, the free-standing NG/CNT/Co₃O₄ paper exhibits an enhanced ORR catalytic performance with stable durability and strong methanol-tolerant capability, indicating promising potential as ORR electrocatalyst in practical applications.

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Article information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C4NR02101K
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 18 Apr 2014
Accepted: 04 May 2014
First published: 06 May 2014

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Nanoscale, 2014,6, 7534-7541

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Flexible nitrogen-doped graphene/carbon nanotube/Co₃O₄ paper and its oxygen reduction activity

S. Li, H. Cong, P. Wang and S. Yu, Nanoscale, 2014, 6, 7534 DOI: 10.1039/C4NR02101K

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