Heteroatom-Doped Carbon as a Non-precious Catalyst for Oxygen Reduction Reactionin Alkaline Medium

Abstract

A facile and cost-effective single-step pyrolysis approach using a single precursor is introduced to fabricate boron-doped carbons (BDC700 and BDC900) and phosphorus or boron selective-doped-graphenes (PDG700 and BDG900) without using a template, solvent, or catalyst. By increasing the temperature from 700 °C to 900 °C, the tuning of the boron doping level was found in BDCs, and tuning of doping level and selection of heteroatom were possible in PDG700 and BDG900. BDC900, PDG700, and BDG900 were found to have the ability to reduce oxygen directly to water with a four-electron oxygen reduction pathway in an alkaline medium. All four catalysts exhibited excellent stability and resistance to methanol oxidation and CO poisoning. BDCs, PDG700, and BDG900 are a promising alternative to conventional Pt-based catalysts as metal-free catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline fuel cells. ⓒ 2013 DGIST