Facile Synthesis of Manganese‐Oxide‐Containing Mesoporous Nitrogen‐Doped Carbon for Efficient Oxygen Reduction |
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Authors: | Yueming Tan Chaofa Xu Guangxu Chen Xiaoliang Fang Nanfeng Zheng Qingji Xie |
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Affiliation: | 1. State Key Laboratory for Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces and Department of Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China;2. Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Traditional, Chinese Medicine Research (Ministry of Education of China), College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, China |
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Abstract: | Developing low‐cost non‐precious metal catalysts for high‐performance oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is highly desirable. Here a facile, in situ template synthesis of a MnO‐containing mesoporous nitrogen‐doped carbon (m‐N‐C) nanocomposite and its high electrocatalytic activity for a four‐electron ORR in alkaline solution are reported. The synthesis of the MnO‐m‐N‐C nanocomposite involves one‐pot hydrothermal synthesis of Mn3O4@polyaniline core/shell nanoparticles from a mixture containing aniline, Mn(NO3)2, and KMnO4, followed by heat treatment to produce N‐doped ultrathin graphitic carbon coated MnO hybrids and partial acid leaching of MnO. The as‐prepared MnO‐m‐N‐C composite catalyst exhibits high electrocatalytic activity and dominant four‐electron oxygen reduction pathway in 0.1 M KOH aqueous solution due to the synergetic effect between MnO and m‐N‐C. The pristine MnO shows little electrocatalytic activity and m‐N‐C alone exhibits a dominant two‐electron process for ORR. The MnO‐m‐N‐C composite catalyst also exhibits superior stability and methanol tolerance to a commercial Pt/C catalyst, making the composite a promising cathode catalyst for alkaline methanol fuel cell applications. The synergetic effect between MnO and N‐doped carbon described provides a new route to design advanced catalysts for energy conversion. |
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Keywords: | manganese oxide mesoporous nitrogen‐doped carbon polyaniline oxygen reduction reactions synergetic effects |
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