Developing low‐cost and high‐performance catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is critical for fuel cell applications. In this study, hollow carbon nano‐spheres (HCNS) are synthesized by a hydrothermal method and used as the support for silver nano‐particles (Ag@HCNS) as the ORR catalyst. The morphology of Ag@HCNS is investigated by the transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and other methodologies. Results show that the silver nanoparticles with a diameter from 3 to 6 nm are evenly distributed on the surface of HCNS. The catalytic performances of the HCNS and Ag@HCNS for ORR are investigated by cyclic voltammetry, linear sweeping voltammetry, rotating disc and rotating ring disc electrode tests. The synergistic effect between HCNS and Ag nanoparticles plays the major role on the high catalytic activity of Ag@HCNS for ORR. The onset potential of Ag@HCNS (0.82 V v.s. RHE) catalyzed ORR is close to that of Pt/C catalyst. In addition, the reaction kinetics study shows that the Ag@HCNS catalyzed ORR major proceeds through 4‐electron style. This paper promotes the understanding of the happening mechanism of ORR on the surface of novel carbon supported metal nanoparticles.
Nitrogen-doped carbon-supported metal nano-particles show great promise as high-performance catalysts for novel energies, organic synthesis, environmental protection, and other fields. The synergistic effect between nitrogen-doped carbon and metal nano-particles enhances the catalytic properties. Thus, how to effectively combine nitrogen-doped carbon with metal nano-particles is a crucial factor for the synthesis of novel catalysts. In this paper, we report on a facile method to prepare nitrogen-doped carbon-supported metal nano-particles by using dimethylgly-oxime as ligand. The nano-particles of Pd, Ni, Cu, and Fe were successfully prepared by the pyrolysis of the corresponding clathrate of ions and dimethylglyoxime. The ligand of dimethylglyoxime is adopted as the source for the nitrogen-doped carbon. The nano-structure of the prepared Pd, Ni, Cu, and Fe particles are confirmed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and trans-mission electron microscopy tests. The catalytic performances of the obtained metal nano-particles for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) are investigated by cyclic voltammetry, Tafel, linear sweeping voltammetry, rotating disc electrode, rotating ring disc electrode, and other technologies. Results show that the nitrogen-doped carbon-supported metal nano-particles can be highly efficient catalysts for ORR. The results of the paper exhibit a facile methodology to prepare nitrogen-doped carbon-supported metal nano-particles.
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