Plasma-Assisted Synthesis of Defect-Rich O and N Codoped Carbon Nanofibers Loaded with Manganese Oxides as an Efficient Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalyst for Aluminum–Air Batteries

Abstract

The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) with sluggish kinetics on the cathode of aluminum–air (Al–air) batteries greatly limits their further development. Here, a new strategy is proposed to synthesize oxygen and nitrogen codoped carbon nanofibers loaded with manganese oxides (MnO/Mn2O3/ONCNF-n) as an efficient electrocatalyst for ORR by using oxygen plasma surface etching. The MnO/Mn2O3/ONCNF-3 exhibit superior ORR performance in an alkaline electrolyte, which is attributed to various active sites including N and O heteroatoms, vacancies, and manganese oxides. Additionally, the fabricated homemade Al–air battery (AAB) with MnO/Mn2O3/ONCNF-3 exhibits a maximum power density of 129.7 mW cm–2, demonstrating comparable performance to AABs based on the commercial Pt/C catalyst. This work provides a new approach of using O2 plasma for enhancing the ORR catalytic activities of carbon materials.

Improving the electron transfer in the oxygen reduction reaction by N/S co-doping for high-performance of Zn–air batteries

“…Compared with graphite, the diffraction peaks of the three samples on the (002) plane all shi in the direction of low angles, which indicates that the lattice distance of the carbon skeleton is enlarged aer the integration of heteroatoms into the carbon matrix. 64,65 According to the Bragg equation, the lattice spacing of the (002) crystal plane of NSC-800 is 0.355 nm, which is consistent with high-resolution TEM; in addition, the lattice spacing of SC-800 and NC-800 is 0.406 nm and 0.358 nm. SC-800 has the largest lattice spacing, which may be due to the higher amount of doped sulfur with a large atomic radius.…”

Development of α‐MnO2 Nanowire with Ni‐ and (Ni, Co)‐Cation Doping as an Efficient Bifunctional Oxygen Evolution and Oxygen Reduction Reaction Catalyst

“…[4][5][6] Due to the unsatisfactory OER/ORR reaction kinetics and slow electron transfer greatly restrict the catalytic activity and stability of fuel cell performance. [7][8][9] Currently, noble metal catalysts like platinum (Pt), [10,11] iridium oxide (IrO 2 ), [12] and ruthenium oxide (RuO 2 ) [13][14][15] are marked as an excellent catalysts toward ORR and OER. But these have many hurdles to pragmatic activities including scarcity, high cost, low durability and stability.…”

Recent Advances in Plasma Catalysis

“…Cheng et al used an oxygen plasma to surface etch carbon nanofibers, which were doped with manganese oxides and nitrogen, then reoxidized by plasma to improve oxygen reduction reaction activity. 29…”

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