Abstract

Multiple Heteroatom-Doped Reduced Graphene Oxide as Efficient Oxygen Reduction Reaction Electro Catalysts: The Importance of Doping Sequence

Author(s): Maria Smith

The development of an effective electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction using multiple heteroatom-doped graphene is of great interest. The competitive doping mechanism produced by the varied atomic sizes of dopants should be developed to maximise the electrocatalytic performance of doped graphene. Using both single-step and two-step procedures, three distinct heteroatoms (e.g., N, P, and B) are competitively incorporated into Reduced Graphene Oxide (RGO). The total number of heteroatoms in ternary RGO synthesised in two steps is lower than in ternary RGO synthesised in one step. Higher ORR electrocatalytic activity for the two-step-synthesized RGO can be explained by: (a): A high amount of P atoms; (b): The fact that B doping itself decreases the less electrocatalytic N moieties such as pyrrole and pyridine and increases the high electrocatalytic moieties such as quaternary N; (c): A high amount of B atoms within the RGO act as a catalyst; It adds to our understanding of how to build heteroatom-doped carbon compounds with high electrocatalytic performance. In recent years, finding effective catalysts for the cathodic Oxygen Reduction Process (ORR) in fuel cells, photocatalytic water splitting, and metal-air batteries has been a major research focus.