3D ordered macro-/mesoporous carbon supported Ag nanoparticles for efficient electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction

Jing Dong; Tingting Sun; Shengyu Li; Nannan Shan; Jianfeng Chen; Yushan Yan; Lianbin Xu

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2019.06.087

3D ordered macro-/mesoporous carbon supported Ag nanoparticles for efficient electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2019 Oct 15:554:177-182. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2019.06.087. Epub 2019 Jun 26.

Authors

Jing Dong¹, Tingting Sun¹, Shengyu Li¹, Nannan Shan², Jianfeng Chen¹, Yushan Yan³, Lianbin Xu⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China.
² Department of Chemical Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA.
³ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China. Electronic address: xulb@mail.buct.edu.cn.

PMID: 31299545
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2019.06.087

Abstract

Three-dimensionally ordered macro-/mesoporous carbon (OMMC)-supported Ag nanoparticles (Ag/OMMC) with homogeneously dispersed Ag particles are prepared and investigated as effective electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline aqueous system. The obtained Ag/OMMC catalyst displays smaller Ag particle size, higher Ag dispersion, and enhanced catalytic activity and durability compared with the carbon black Vulcan XC-72R supported Ag (Ag/XC-72R). The sizes of Ag particles supported on the OMMC and XC-72R are 4.3 and 6.5 nm, respectively. The prepared Ag/OMMC catalyst shows a positive half-wave potential of 0.79 V vs. RHE and a large diffusion-limited current of 5.6 mA cm^-2 at 0.4 V, superior to Ag/XC-72R catalyst. The better ORR performance of the Ag/OMMC is probably ascribed to the unique 3D ordered interconnected macro-/mesoporous structure, which contributes to facilitating the mass/charge transport, improving the Ag particle dispersion, and preventing the Ag particle growth and aggregation.

Keywords: Confinement effect; Durability; Electrocatalyst; Ordered macro-/mesoporous carbon; Oxygen reduction reaction; Silver nanoparticles.