Boron and phosphorous-doped graphene as a metal-free electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline medium

Abstract

An efficient solid-state pyrolysis route is presented to prepare boron and phosphorous-doped graphene without using the template, solvent, or catalyst. By controlling the pyrolysis temperature, selective doping of phosphorous or boron was achieved. Phosphorous-doped graphene (PDG) and boron-doped graphene (BDG) samples are obtained when pyrolysing the precursor at 700 ˚C and at 900 ˚C, respectively under autogenic pressure. PDG and BDG electrodes show a considerable oxygen reduction activity by direct four-electron pathway in alkaline medium. Further, these catalysts show improved durability under continuous oxygen reduction, resistance to methanol oxidation and CO-tolerance than the commercial catalyst. The results suggest that by tuning the reaction temperature, selective doping, and either boron or phosphorous in graphene was achieved and used as non-precious and metal-free catalysts for oxygen reduction.

Boron‐Doped Graphene as Efficient Electrocatalyst for Zinc‐Bromine Redox Flow Batteries

“…The interlayer distance of graphite 3.34 Å is calculated from the XRD pattern. XRD pattern of synthesized GO shows a sharp peak at 10.15° corresponding to the (001) plane confirms the oxidation of the graphite powder (Figure ‐GO). The significant increase of d‐spacing value from 3.34 to 8.55 Å indicates the introduction of oxygen‐containing functional groups in between the layers of graphite.…”

Using Multifunctional Polymeric Soft Template for Synthesizing Nitrogen and Phosphorus Co–Doped Mesoporous Carbon Frameworks Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

“…Furthermore, the covalent bonding between heteroatom and carbon in the carbon framework will not easily corrode even for long‐time operation. In particular, co‐doping of binary heteroatoms into the carbon framework has been reported to reveal even preferable catalytic activity than only one atom doping because of the synergetic effect enhancing by co‐doping of double heteroatoms …”

“…In particular, co-doping of binary heteroatoms into the carbon framework has been reported to reveal even preferable catalytic activity than only one atom doping because of the synergetic effect enhancing by co-doping of double heteroatoms. [16][17][18][19] Phosphorous possesses similar chemical properties with nitrogen because of the same quantity of valence electron; however, phosphorous owns larger atomic radius and greater electron-donating capacity, which indicates that phosphorousdoping into N-doped carbon frameworks is a wise choice. The lower electronegativity of P (2.19) atom can render the polarity of PÀ C bond different from the polarity of NÀ C bond, [20,21] generating high catalytic activity of PÀ C bond for adsorption and reduction of oxygen.…”

Caffeine as Nitrogen Source for Reduce Graphene Doping, and Its Functionalization with Silver Nanowires

“…Besides, the properties of Graphene can be modified by the inclusion in their carbon bidimensional structure, foreign atoms as nitrogen [20][21][22], phosphorous and boron [23,24], or hetero-doping [25]; in this way, there are known three doping types for this: i) pyridinic doping [26], ii) graphitic or substitutional doping [27] and iii) pyrrolic doping [27]. Each one has a certain quantity of atoms that can be included in the carbon hexagonal network.…”