Issue 6, 2019

Electronic synergism of pyridinic- and graphitic-nitrogen on N-doped carbons for the oxygen reduction reaction

Abstract

Nitrogen-doped carbon materials (NCs) are extensively studied for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). However, the nature of active sites of pyridinic nitrogen (NP) or graphitic nitrogen (NG) on NCs is still under debate. Herein, we demonstrated that the ORR activity of NCs in alkaline media depended on the electronic synergism between NP and NG, rather than any single type of N. We measured the transferable electrons of NCs by absorption spectroscopy using 7′7′8′8-tetracyanoquinodimethane as an electron acceptor. The transferable electron amount of NCs is relevant to either NP or NG, leading to the [NP] : [NG] ratio as an electron transfer descriptor of NCs in a reverse volcano curve manner across nineteen NCs. The similar dependence of ORR activity on the [NP] : [NG] ratio of NCs was also discovered, demonstrating the synergistic effect of NP and NG. These results provide a new angle to understand the nature of ORR activity of NCs and optimize the ORR catalyst.

Graphical abstract: Electronic synergism of pyridinic- and graphitic-nitrogen on N-doped carbons for the oxygen reduction reaction

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
16 oct. 2018
Accepted
13 déc. 2018
First published
13 déc. 2018
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2019,10, 1589-1596

Electronic synergism of pyridinic- and graphitic-nitrogen on N-doped carbons for the oxygen reduction reaction

X. Ning, Y. Li, J. Ming, Q. Wang, H. Wang, Y. Cao, F. Peng, Y. Yang and H. Yu, Chem. Sci., 2019, 10, 1589 DOI: 10.1039/C8SC04596H

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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