| Institution: | 1. Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Science and Technology, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710072 P. R. China
Division of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 21 Nanyang Link, 637371 Singapore, Singapore;2. Analytical & Testing Center of, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710072 P. R. China;3. Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Science and Technology, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710072 P. R. China;4. Division of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 21 Nanyang Link, 637371 Singapore, Singapore;5. The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710049 P. R. China |
| Abstract: | Heteroatom-doped polymers or carbon nanospheres have attracted broad research interest. However, rational synthesis of these nanospheres with controllable properties is still a great challenge. Herein, we develop a template-free approach to construct cross-linked polyphosphazene nanospheres with tunable hollow structures. As comonomers, hexachlorocyclotriphosphazene provides N and P atoms, tannic acid can coordinate with metal ions, and the replaceable third comonomer can endow the materials with various properties. After carbonization, N/P-doped mesoporous carbon nanospheres were obtained with small particle size (≈50 nm) and high surface area (411.60 m2 g?1). Structural characterization confirmed uniform dispersion of the single atom transition metal sites (i.e., Co-N2P2) with N and P dual coordination. Electrochemical measurements and theoretical simulations revealed the oxygen reduction reaction performance. This work provides a solution for fabricating diverse heteroatom-containing polymer nanospheres and their derived single metal atom doped carbon catalysts. |
