fabrication of cobalt sulfide-decorated N,S co-doped mesoporous carbon and its application as an electrocatalyst for efficient oxygen reduction reaction

• Published in: New journal of chemistry Vol. 46; no. 22; pp. 17 - 179
• Main Authors: Parthiban, V, Sruthibhai, P. V, Menon, Rahul S, Panda, Subhendu K, Sahu, A. K
• Format: Journal Article
• Published: 06.06.2022
• ISSN: 1144-0546; 1369-9261
• DOI: 10.1039/d2nj00403h

Designing an efficient electrocatalyst for facile oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is essential to achieve higher fuel cell performance. Herein, we demonstrate a simple in situ process to synthesize cobalt sulfide-decorated N and S co-doped mesoporous carbon (Co 9 S 8 /N,S-MC) and evaluated its electrocatalytic activity for ORR in alkaline media. Porous carbon has great potential as a support material due to its well-defined porous architecture, which facilitates the mass transport. Here, the Co 9 S 8 /N,S-MC electrocatalyst was designed through a soft template route using pluoronic-F127 as a structure-directing agent, phloroglucinol-formaldehyde resin as a carbon source, and thiourea and cobalt acetate as N, S and Co sources, respectively. The combined effects of cobalt sulfide, heteroatoms and the well-defined porous architecture of mesoporous carbon resulted in the excellent ORR performance of the Co 9 S 8 /N,S-MC catalyst. Consequently, the optimized Co 9 S 8 /N,S-MC catalyst exhibited an onset potential and limiting current density of 0.87 V vs. RHE, and 3.40 mA cm −2 , respectively. These values were very close to those of the commercial Pt-C catalyst with only a difference of 50 mV and 80 mA cm −2 , but the Co 9 S 8 /N,S-MC catalyst also showed a 30 mV higher half-wave potential and excellent long-term stability compared to those of the commercial Pt/C catalyst. These interesting results suggested the good potential application of Co 9 S 8 /N,S-MC as ORR electrocatalysts with longer stability in fuel cells. Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity of N,S co-doped mesoporous carbon.