自组装制备高路易斯碱度和优异电子特性的3D碳网络电催化剂在碱性金属-空气电池中的应用（英文）

碳材料具有良好的稳定性,且容易在碳晶格形成缺陷,具备一定的催化活性,因此碳材料作为一种可替代贵金属电催化剂的材料是催化领域的研究热点.通过杂原子的引进,可以改变相应碳原子的结构特性,进而提升其催化活性.其中N的电负性强于C,N元素的引入影响C的原子结构使其作为活性位点催化氧气还原.S元素与C元素的电负性相近,S掺杂的过程中会增大C原子周围的自旋电子密度,从而增大其对0_2的吸附能力,提高其催化活性.两种作用方式不同的掺杂元素之间会形成一种协同效应,进而提高碳材料的催化活性.本文采用三聚氰胺的溶剂法制备了三维结构N,S共掺杂碳网络.三聚氰胺和十二烷基苯磺钠在溶液中分布以正、负离子团存在,以其在二氧化硅模板外形成的缔合物作为前驱体,直接制备活性材料.采用扫描电子显微镜(SEM),X射线光电子能谱(XPS),拉曼光谱(Raman)等手段研究了材料的合成过程及具有优良催化活性的原因.SEM,TEM和BET结果表明材料具有良好的孔道结构和较高的比表面积(385.09 m~2/g).Raman和XPS分析证明了N,S共掺杂后的材料中碳晶格的缺陷程度明显增大,而其中存在的吡啶N位于石墨平面的边缘部位,与两个C原子相连,这种N影响了相连C的路易斯碱度,改善了其吸附氧气能力.同时,由DFT计算结果可知,噻吩S的存在可以改变相连C原子的自旋电子密度,与掺杂的N原子形成有效的防协同作用,提高其对氧气的催化活性.相应的电催化性能测试表明,在0.1 mol/L KOH溶液中,共掺杂材料的起始电位为-0.08 V,优于其他两种对比材料,与商用Pt/C催化剂相近.N,S掺杂显著提高了碳材料的催化性能,共掺杂材料表现出了较单一N掺杂更为优异的催化性能.在铝空气电池放电过程中,以共掺杂碳材料制备的空气电极具有优良的放电性能,在50 mA/cm~2的电流密度下放电,电压达到1.34 V.共掺杂材料良好的催化活性显著减少了空气电极处的极化,提高了铝空气电池的放电电压.这种制备方法可为具有此类溶液特性的物质提供参考,用以合成相应的掺杂碳材料作为催化剂材料和电极材料。

Self-assembled three-dimensional carbon networks with accessorial Lewis base sites and variational electron characteristics as efficient oxygen reduction reaction catalysts for alkaline metal-air batteries

Heteroatom-doped carbon has been demonstrated to be one of the most promising non-noble metal catalysts with high catalytic activity and stability through the modification of the electronic and geometric structures. In this study, we develop a novel solvent method to prepare interconnected N, S co-doped three-dimensional (3D) carbon networks with tunable nanopores derived from an asso-ciated complex based on melamine and sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS). After the intro-duction of silica templates and calcination, the catalyst exhibits 3D networks with interconnected 50-nm pores and partial graphitization. With the increase of the number of Lewis base sites caused by the N doping and change of the carbon charge and spin densities caused by the S doping, the designed N, S co-doped catalyst exhibits a similar electrochemical activity to that of the commercial 20-wt% Pt/C as an oxygen reduction reaction catalyst. In addition, in an aluminum-air battery, the proposed catalyst even outperforms the commercial 5-wt% Pt/C catalyst. Both interconnected porous structures and synergistic effects of N and S contribute to the superior catalytic perfor-mance. This study paves the way for the synthesis of various other N-doped and co-doped carbon materials as efficient catalysts in electrochemical energy applications.