Journal article
Nanoconfined Synthesis of Nitrogen-Rich Metal-Free Mesoporous Carbon Nitride Electrocatalyst for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction
ACS Applied Energy Materials, Vol.3(2), pp.1439-1447
2020
Abstract
Synthesizing metal-free, low-cost, and durable electrocatalysts that are active for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is essential for the development of commercial alkaline water electrolyzers. Herein, we develop a nanoconfined synthesis approach for the fabrication of a metal-free graphitic mesoporous carbon nitride (gMesoCN) electrocatalyst with a high surface area of 406 m(2)/g and high nitrogen content of 48%. This is achieved by a nanohard-templating approach through simple polymerization of guanidine hydrochloride (GndCl) as a single carbon-nitrogen source inside the organized mesopore channels of a mesoporous SBA15 silica nanotemplate. The produced material is characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), which confirmed the formation of a well-ordered mesoporous carbon nitride, while analysis of the pore size distribution indicated the formation of uniformly sized pore channels of 4.56 nm. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) indicated that gMesoCN consisted of C and N. The metal-free gMesoCN material showed good electrocatalytic performance for the OER in alkaline medium, where a Tafel slope of 52.4 mV/dec indicated favorable OER kinetics. Significantly, the gMesoCN material demonstrates long-term durability with 98.4% retention of current density after 24 h. The reported gMesoCN material is inexpensive, environmentally friendly, and easy-to-synthesize with the potential for applicability in the field of electrocatalysis.
Details
- Title
- Nanoconfined Synthesis of Nitrogen-Rich Metal-Free Mesoporous Carbon Nitride Electrocatalyst for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction
- Authors
- Md A. Wahab (Corresponding Author) - Queensland University of TechnologyJickson Joseph (Author) - Queensland University of TechnologyLuqman Atanda (Author) - Queensland University of TechnologyUmmul K. Sultana (Author) - Queensland University of TechnologyJorge N. Beltramini (Author) - Queensland University of TechnologyKostya Ostrikov (Author) - Queensland University of TechnologyGeoffrey Will (Author) - Queensland University of TechnologyAnthony P. O'Mullane (Corresponding Author) - Queensland University of TechnologyAhmed Abdala (Author) - Texas A&M University at Qatar
- Publication details
- ACS Applied Energy Materials, Vol.3(2), pp.1439-1447
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society
- DOI
- 10.1021/acsaem.9b01876
- ISSN
- 2574-0962
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99737997902621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web Of Science research areas
- Chemistry, Physical
- Energy & Fuels
- Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
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