We develop a facile method for the synthesis of an iron phthalocyanine (FePc) and nitrogen-doped graphene (NG) composite as a novel and efficient non-precious catalyst in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The resulting product exhibits superior ORR catalytic activity, excellent tolerance to methanol crossover, and comparable stability to commercial Pt/C, which leads to the invention of a new...

Crystalline Ni3S2 oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts undergo oxidative surface reconstruction under catalytic conditions to generate an approximately 2 nm amorphous surface layer with NiS stoichiometry. DFT calculations establish a simple local coordination number based descriptor for ORR catalysis and suggest that Ni atoms surrounded by three S nearest neighbors display optimal activity...

Branched Pd nanodendrites have been synthesized by a very simple method, which have displayed substantially enhanced oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity compared with that of commercial Pd/C catalysts. The Pd nanodendrites show 4.8 times more activity on the basis of an equivalent noble metal mass for the ORR than the commercial Pd/C catalysts. Moreover, the Pd nanodendrite catalysts also ...

Synthesis of boron-carbon-nitrogen (BCN) nanocarbon with a controllable bond structure for enhanced oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity and durability was performed using a new method of discharge in organic solution mixtures named the 'Solution Plasma Process'. Using selected precursors a new strategy for the simultaneous synthesis of nanocarbon co-doped with heteroatoms was found. The sy...

3D and porous reduced graphene oxide (rGO) catalysts have been prepared with sp3-hybridized 1,4-diaminobutane (sp3-DABu, rGO-sp3-rGO) and sp2-hybridized 1,4-diaminobenzene (sp2-DABe, rGO-sp2-rGO) through a covalent amidation and have employed as a metal-free electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline media. Both compounds have used as a junction between functionalized rGO l...

A general solvent-dependent protocol directly influencing the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in metal oxide/graphene nanohybrids has been demonstrated. We conducted the two-step synthesis of cobalt oxide/N-doped graphene nanohybrids (CNG) with solvents of water, ethanol, and dimethylformamide (DMF), representing tree typical categories of aqueous, polar organic, and organic N-containing solven...

Reduced graphene oxide (rGO), as a newly emerged carbon material, has attracted great attention concerning its applications for electrocatalysts. Presently, there are mixed opinions regarding the advantages to using rGO as a support for preparing nonprecious metal catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The primary goal of this work is to determine whether rGO would be favorable for ...

Currently, the fundamental factors that control the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity of graphene itself, in particular, the dependence of the ORR activity on the number of exposed edge sites remain elusive, mainly due to limited synthesis routes of achieving small size graphene. In this work, the synthesis of low oxygen content (<2.5±0.2 at. %), few layer graphene nanosheets with latera...