Article Title

Enhanced N-doping in mesoporous carbon for efficient electrocatalytic CO₂ conversion

Authors

Min Kuang, § Min Kuang and Anxiang Guan contributed equally to this work.
Anxiang Guan, § Min Kuang and Anxiang Guan contributed equally to this work.
Zhengxiang Gu, § Min Kuang and Anxiang Guan contributed equally to this work.
Peng Han, § Min Kuang and Anxiang Guan contributed equally to this work.
Linping Qian, § Min Kuang and Anxiang Guan contributed equally to this work.
Gengfeng Zheng, § Min Kuang and Anxiang Guan contributed equally to this work.

Keywords

electrocatalyst, CO2 reduction reaction, nitrogen-doped carbon, pyridinic, Faradaic efficiency

Abstract

The capability of electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) using nitrogen (N)-doped carbon strongly depends on the N-doping level and their types. In this work, we developed a strategy to generate mesoporous N-doped carbon frameworks with tunable configurations and contents of N dopants, by using a secondary doping process via the treatment of N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) solvent. The obtained mesoporous N-doped carbon (denoted as MNC-D) served as an efficient electrocatalyst for electroreduction of CO2 to CO. A high Faradaic efficiency of ~ 92% and a partial current density for CO of −6.8 mA·cm−2 were achieved at a potential of −0.58 V vs. RHE. Electrochemical analyses further revealed that the active sites within the N-doped carbon catalysts were the pyridinic N and defects generated by the DMF treatment, which enhanced the activation and adsorption CO2 molecules. Our study suggests a new approach to develop efficient carbon-based catalysts for potential scalable CO2RR to fuels and chemicals.

Graphical Abstract

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-019-2396-6

Publisher

Tsinghua University Press

Recommended Citation

Min Kuang,Anxiang Guan,Zhengxiang Gu,Peng Han,Linping Qian,Gengfeng Zheng, Enhanced N-doping in mesoporous carbon for efficient electrocatalytic CO2 conversion. NanoRes.2019, 12(9): 2324–2329