Polydopamine–graphene oxide derived mesoporous carbon nanosheets for enhanced oxygen reduction

Abstract

Composite materials combining nitrogen-doped carbon (NC) with active species represent a paramount breakthrough as alternative catalysts to Pt for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) due to their competitive activity, low cost and excellent stability. In this paper, a simple strategy is presented to construct graphene oxide–polydopamine (GD) based carbon nanosheets. This approach does not need to modify graphene and use any catalyst for polymerization under ambient conditions, and the obtained carbon nanosheets possess adjustable thicknesses and uniform mesoporous structures without using any template. The thickness of GD hybrids and the carbonization temperature are found to play crucial roles in adjusting the microstructure of the resulting carbon nanosheets and, accordingly their ORR catalytic activity. The optimized carbon nanosheet generated by a GD hybrid of 5 nm thickness after 900 °C carbonization exhibits superior ORR activity with an onset potential of −0.07 V and a kinetic current density of 13.7 mA cm⁻² at −0.6 V. The unique mesoporous structure, high surface areas, abundant defects and favorable nitrogen species are believed to significantly benefit the ORR catalytic process. Furthermore, it also shows remarkable durability and excellent methanol tolerance outperforming those of commercial Pt/C. In view of the physicochemical versatility and structural tunability of polydopamine (PDA) materials, our work would shed new light on the understanding and further development of PDA-based carbon materials for highly efficient electrocatalysts.