Issue 16, 2023

A zeolite templating method for fabricating edge site-enriched N-doped carbon materials

Abstract

N-doped carbon materials have attracted considerable attention as highly functional materials because nitrogen doping distorts the carbon lattice, changes the charge density, and introduces additional defects. Among various positions of N atoms in N-doped carbon compounds, pyridinic-N, pyrrolic-N, and valley-N, which are doped at edge sites, exhibit specific electrocatalytic activities during the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). However, it is difficult to selectively introduce these N atoms into a carbon matrix because the synthesis procedure typically includes high-temperature heat treatment. In this study, we applied a zeolite templating method to synthesize edge site-rich N-doped carbon materials. The sample fabricated using a zeolite template possessed high concentrations of pyridinic-N and valley-N atoms, demonstrating a significantly higher ORR catalytic activity than the sample synthesized without a zeolite template. Additional experiments conducted using various zeolites confirmed the positive effect of N-doped carbons on the ORR catalytic performance. This work demonstrated that the zeolite templating method not only increased the specific surface area and the number of active sites but also selectively created edge sites and improved the quality of the active sites.

Graphical abstract: A zeolite templating method for fabricating edge site-enriched N-doped carbon materials

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
24 Mar 2023
Accepted
11 May 2023
First published
12 May 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Nanoscale Adv., 2023,5, 4233-4239

A zeolite templating method for fabricating edge site-enriched N-doped carbon materials

Y. Taniguchi, Y. Shu, R. Takada, K. Miyake, Y. Uchida and N. Nishiyama, Nanoscale Adv., 2023, 5, 4233 DOI: 10.1039/D3NA00186E

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