Mechanochemically Synthetized PAN-Based Co-N-Doped Carbon Materials as Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Evolution Reaction

• Published in: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 11; no. 2; p. 290
• Main Authors: Gómez-López, Paulette, Salatti-Dorado, José Ángel, Rodríguez-Padrón, Daily, Cano, Manuel, Alvarado-Beltrán, Clemente G, Puente-Santiago, Alain R, Giner-Casares, Juan J, Luque, Rafael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 22.01.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Carbon; Carbon fibers; carbon N-doped; Catalysts; Co2O3 nanoparticles; Cobalt; Cobalt oxides; Electrocatalysts; Electrodes; Energy; Fibers; Homology; Hydrogen; mechanochemical synthesis; Metals; Nanocomposites; Nanomaterials; Nanotechnology; Nitrogen; OER; Oxygen; Oxygen evolution reactions; PAN; Photoelectron spectroscopy; Photoelectrons; Polyacrylonitrile; X ray photoelectron spectroscopy; X-ray diffraction; Japan; Co2O3 nanoparticles; PAN; OER; mechanochemical synthesis; carbon N-doped
• ISSN: 2079-4991; 2079-4991
• DOI: 10.3390/nano11020290

We report a new class of polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based Co-N-doped carbon materials that can act as suitable catalyst for oxygen evolution reactions (OER). Different Co loadings were mechanochemically added into post-consumed PAN fibers. Subsequently, the samples were treated at 300 °C under air (PAN-A) or nitrogen (PAN-N) atmosphere to promote simultaneously the Co O species and PAN cyclization. The resulting electrocatalysts were fully characterized and analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission (TEM) and scanning electron (SEM) microscopies, as well as nitrogen porosimetry. The catalytic performance of the Co-N-doped carbon nanomaterials were tested for OER in alkaline environments. Cobalt-doped PAN-A samples showed worse OER electrocatalytic performance than their homologous PAN-N ones. The PAN-N/3% Co catalyst exhibited the lowest OER overpotential (460 mV) among all the Co-N-doped carbon nanocomposites, reaching 10 mA/cm . This work provides in-depth insights on the electrocatalytic performance of metal-doped carbon nanomaterials for OER.