Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-swr86 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-18T04:32:23.010Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Urea treatment of nitrogen-doped carbon leads to enhanced performance for the oxygen reduction reaction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2018

Anna Ilnicka ,
Jerzy P. Lukaszewicz ,
Kengo Shimanoe  and
Masayoshi Yuasa
Anna Ilnicka*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Chemistry, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun 87-100, Poland
Jerzy P. Lukaszewicz
Affiliation:
Faculty of Chemistry, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun 87-100, Poland
Kengo Shimanoe
Affiliation:
Department of Energy and Material Sciences, Faculty of Engineering Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan
Masayoshi Yuasa
Affiliation:
Department of Biological & Environmental Chemistry, Faculty of Humanity-Oriented Science and Engineering, Kinki University, Fukuoka 820-8555, Japan
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: ailnicka@chem.umk.pl
Get access

Abstract

Manufacturing of advanced functional materials should also rely on the green chemistry principles like utilization of natural renewable resources. Marine environment offers plenty of renewable raw materials like chitin and its derivative chitosan. The paper presents how urea treatment has influenced several textural, chemical, and electrocatalytic properties of N-doped activated carbons (N_ACs) obtained from chitosan and chitin. The materials were subjected to an activation procedure (with different activators) as well as nitrogenation by premixing the precursors with water solutions of urea. Raw and premixed precursors were carbonized in the temperature range of 700–800 °C. The urea treatment resulted in a spectacular increase in the nitrogen content by weight (up to 68%) and an improvement of the surface area (up to 42%) along with total/micro-/mezo-pore volume (up to 49%). Some urea-modified N_ACs were capable of reducing oxygen in an alkaline solution as effectively as a Pt-loaded carbon material. The highest number of electrons transferred to O2 molecule was found to be equal to 3.76 for a chitosan derived sample. This ability of chitosan and chitin derived N-rich activated carbons was studied by means of the method named rotating ring disc electrode.

Keywords

surface chemistryporositychemical composition
Type
Article
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 33 , Issue 11 , 13 June 2018 , pp. 1612 - 1624
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Hulicova-Jurcakova, D., Seredych, M., Lu, G.Q., Kodiweera, N., Stallworth, P.E., Greenbaum, S., and Bandosz, T.J.: Effect of surface phosphorus functionalities of activated carbons containing oxygen and nitrogen on electrochemical capacitance. Carbon 47, 1576 (2009).Google Scholar
Wang, C., Sun, L., Zhou, Y., Wan, P., Zhang, X., and Qiu, J.: P/N co-doped microporous carbons from H3PO4-doped polyaniline by in situ activation for supercapacitors. Carbon 59, 537 (2013).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, Y.J., Abe, Y., Yanagiura, T., Park, K.C., Shimizu, M., Iwazaki, T., Nakagawa, S., Endo, M., and Dresselhaus, M.S.: Easy preparation of nitrogen-enriched carbon materials from peptides of silk fibroins and their use to produce a high volumetric energy density in supercapacitors. Carbon 45, 2116 (2007).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
László, K., Tombácz, E., and Josepovits, K.: Effect of activation on the surface chemistry of carbons from polymer precursors. Carbon 39, 1217 (2001).Google Scholar
Li, L., Liu, E., Li, J., Yang, Y., Shen, H., Huang, Z., Xiang, X., and Li, W.: A doped activated carbon prepared from polyaniline for high performance supercapacitors. J. Power Sources 195, 1516 (2010).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deng, Y., Xie, Y., Zou, K., and Ji, X.: Review on recent advances in nitrogen-doped carbons: Preparations and applications in supercapacitors. J. Mater. Chem. A 4, 1144 (2016).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kodama, M., Yamashita, J., Soneda, Y., Hatori, H., and Kamegawa, K.: Preparation and electrochemical characteristics of N-enriched carbon foam. Carbon 45, 1105 (2007).Google Scholar
Klinik, J., Samojeden, B., Grzybek, T., Suprun, W., Papp, H., and Gläser, R.: Nitrogen promoted activated carbons as DeNOx catalysts. 2. The influence of water on the catalytic performance. Catal. Today 176, 303 (2011).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fiset, E., Rufford, T.E., Seredych, M., Bandosz, T.J., and Hulicova-Jurcakova, D.: Comparison of melamine resin and melamine network as precursors for carbon electrodes. Carbon 81, 239 (2015).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Qin, C., Lu, X., Yin, G., Jin, Z., Tan, Q., and Bai, X.: Study of activated nitrogen-enriched carbon and nitrogen-enriched carbon/carbon aerogel composite as cathode materials for supercapacitors. Mater. Chem. Phys. 126, 453 (2011).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xu, B., Hou, S., Cao, G., Wu, F., and Yang, Y.: Sustainable nitrogen-doped porous carbon with high surface areas prepared from gelatin for supercapacitors. J. Mater. Chem. 22, 19088 (2012).Google Scholar
Zhang, B., Wen, Z., Ci, S., Mao, S., Chen, J., and He, Z.: Synthesizing nitrogen-doped activated carbon and probing its active sites for oxygen reduction reaction in microbial fuel cells. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 6, 7464 (2014).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jurewicz, K., Babeł, K., Ziółkowski, A., and Wachowska, H.: Capacitance behaviour of the ammoxidised coal. J. Phys. Chem. Solids 65, 269 (2004).Google Scholar
Lota, G., Grzyb, B., Machnikowska, H., Machnikowski, J., and Frackowiak, E.: Effect of nitrogen in carbon electrode on the supercapacitor performance. Chem. Phys. Lett. 404, 53 (2005).Google Scholar
Wang, H., Wang, K., Song, H., Li, H., Ji, S., Wang, Z., Li, S., and Wang, R.: N-doped porous carbon material made from fish-bones and its highly electrocatalytic performance in the oxygen reduction reaction. RSC Adv. 5, 48965 (2015).Google Scholar
Nowicki, P. and Pietrzak, R.: Węgle aktywne wzbogacone w azot - otrzymywanie, włąsciwości I potencjalne zastosowania. In Adsorbenty i katalizatory, Ryczkowki, J., ed. (Uniwersytet Rzeszowski, Rzeszow, 2012); p. 129.Google Scholar
Hulicova-Jurcakova, D., Seredych, M., Lu, G.Q., and Bandosz, T.J.: Combined effect of nitrogen- and oxygen-containing functional groups of microporous activated carbon on its electrochemical performance in supercapacitors. Adv. Funct. Mater. 19, 438 (2009).Google Scholar
Peng, H., Ma, G., Sun, K., Zhang, Z., Yang, Q., and Lei, Z.: Nitrogen-doped interconnected carbon nanosheets from pomelo mesocarps for high performance supercapacitors. Electrochim. Acta 190, 862 (2016).Google Scholar
Wang, L. and Yang, R.T.: Hydrogen storage properties of N-doped microporous carbon. J. Phys. Chem. C 113, 21883 (2009).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, V.J., Nieto Delgado, C., and Logan, B.E.: Improvement of activated carbons as oxygen reduction catalysts in neutral solutions by ammonia gas treatment and their performance in microbial fuel cells. J. Power Sources 242, 756 (2013).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ghasemi, M., Shahgaldi, S., Ismail, M., Kim, B.H., Yaakob, Z., and Wan Daud, W.R.: Activated carbon nanofibers as an alternative cathode catalyst to platinum in a two-chamber microbial fuel cell. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 36, 13746 (2011).Google Scholar
Yang, X., Zou, W., Su, Y., Zhu, Y., Jiang, H., Shen, J., and Li, C.: Activated nitrogen-doped carbon nanofibers with hierarchical pore as efficient oxygen reduction reaction catalyst for microbial fuel cells. J. Power Sources 266, 36 (2014).Google Scholar
Czerw, R., Terrones, M., Charlier, J.C., Blase, X., Foley, B., Kamalakaran, R., Grobert, N., Terrones, H., Tekleab, D., Ajayan, P.M., Blau, W., Rühle, M., and Carroll, D.L.: Identification of electron donor states in N-doped carbon nanotubes. Nano Lett. 1, 457 (2001).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gong, K., Du, F., Xia, Z., Durstock, M., and Dai, L.: Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotube arrays with high electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction. Science 323, 760 (2009).Google Scholar
Wu, G., Mack, N.H., Gao, W., Ma, S., Zhong, R., Han, J., Baldwin, J.K., and Zelenay, P.: Nitrogen-doped graphene-rich catalysts derived from heteroatom polymers for oxygen reduction in nonaqueous lithium–O2 battery cathodes. ACS Nano 6, 9764 (2012).Google Scholar
Wang , S., Iyyamperumal , E., Roy, A., Xue, Y., Yu, D., and Dai, L.: Vertically aligned BCN nanotubes as efficient metal-free electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction: A synergetic effect by Co-doping with boron and nitrogen. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 50, 11756 (2011).Google Scholar
Shui, J., Wang, M., Du, F., and Dai, L.: N-doped carbon nanomaterials are durable catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction in acidic fuel cells. Sci. Adv. 1, e1400129 (2015).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wei, Q., Tong, X., Zhang, G., Qiao, J., Gong, Q., and Sun, S.: Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotube and graphene materials for oxygen reduction reactions. Catalysis 5, 1574 (2015).Google Scholar
Feng, L., Chen, Y., and Chen, L.: Easy-to-operate and low-temperature synthesis of gram-scale nitrogen-doped graphene and its application as cathode catalyst in microbial fuel cells. ACS Nano 5, 9611 (2011).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, S., Zhang, L., Xia, Z., Roy, A., Chang, D.W., Baek, J-B., and Dai, L.: BCN graphene as efficient metal-free electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 51, 4209 (2012).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hu, Y., Liu, H., Ke, Q., and Wang, J.: Effects of nitrogen doping on supercapacitor performance of a mesoporous carbon electrode produced by a hydrothermal soft-templating process. J. Mater. Chem. A 2, 11753 (2014).Google Scholar
Braghiroli, F.L., Fierro, V., Izquierdo, M.T., Parmentier, J., Pizzi, A., Delmotte, L., Fioux, P., and Celzard, A.: High surface—Highly N-doped carbons from hydrothermally treated tannin. Ind. Crop. Prod. 66, 282 (2015).Google Scholar
Duan , J., Fan, H., and Shen, W.: Nitrogen-doped carbon materials prepared from polyurethane foams. ChemistrySelect 1, 3204 (2016).Google Scholar
Li, W., Chen, D., Li, Z., Shi, Y., Wan, Y., Wang, G., Jiang, Z., and Zhao, D.: Nitrogen-containing carbon spheres with very large uniform mesopores: The superior electrode materials for EDLC in organic electrolyte. Carbon 45, 1757 (2007).Google Scholar
Hulicova, D., Kodama, M., and Hatori, H.: Electrochemical performance of nitrogen-enriched carbons in aqueous and non-aqueous supercapacitors. Chem. Mater. 18, 2318 (2006).Google Scholar
Pollak, E., Salitra, G., Soffer, A., and Aurbach, D.: On the reaction of oxygen with nitrogen-containing and nitrogen-free carbons. Carbon 44, 3302 (2006).Google Scholar
Jeong, H.M., Lee, J.W., Shin, W.H., Choi, Y.J., Shin, H.J., Kang, J.K., and Choi, J.W.: Nitrogen-doped graphene for high-performance ultracapacitors and the importance of nitrogen-doped sites at basal planes. Nano Lett. 11, 2472 (2011).Google Scholar
Wang, Y., Shao, Y., Matson, D.W., Li, J., and Lin, Y.: Nitrogen-doped graphene and its application in electrochemical bisensing. ACS Nano 4, 1790 (2010).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ben Belgacem, A., Hinkov, I., Yahia, S.B., Brinza, O., and Farhat, S.: Arc discharge boron nitrogen doping of carbon nanotubes. Mater. Today Commun. 8, 183 (2016).Google Scholar
Kruk, M., Kohlhaas, K.M., Dufour, B., Celer, E.B., Jaroniec, M., Matyjaszewski, K., Ruoff, R.S., and Kowalewski, T.: Partially graphitic, high-surface-area mesoporous carbons from polyacrylonitrile templated by ordered and disordered mesoporous silicas. Microporous Mesoporous Mater. 102, 178 (2007).Google Scholar
Lu, A., Kiefer, A., Schmidt, W., and Schüth, F.: Synthesis of polyacrylonitrile-based ordered mesoporous carbon with tunable pore structures. Chem. Mater. 16, 100 (2004).Google Scholar
Machnikowski, J., Grzyb, B., Machnikowska, H., and Weber, J.V.: Surface chemistry of porous carbons from N-polymers and their blends with pitch. Microporous Mesoporous Mater. 82, 113 (2005).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raymundo-Piñero, E., Cazorla-Amorós, D., and Linares-Solano, A.: The role of different nitrogen functional groups on the removal of SO2 from flue gases by N-doped activated carbon powders and fibres. Carbon 41, 1925 (2003).Google Scholar
Cong, K., Radtke, M., Stumpf, S., Schröter, B., McMillan, D.G., Rettenmayr, M., and Ignaszak, A.: Electrochemical stability of the polymer-derived nitrogen-doped carbon: An elusive goal? Mater. Renew. Sustain. Energy 4, 1 (2015).Google Scholar
Trchová, M., Konyushenko, E.N., Stejskal, J., Kovářová, J., and Ćirić-Marjanović, G.: The conversion of polyaniline nanotubes to nitrogen-containing carbon nanotubes and their comparison with multi-walled carbon nanotubes. Polym. Degrad. Stab. 94, 929 (2009).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, X., Wu, D., Chen, X., and Fu, R.: Nitrogen-enriched nanocarbons with a 3-d continuous mesopore structure from polyacrylonitrile for supercapacitor application. J. Phys. Chem. C 114, 8581 (2010).Google Scholar
Fuertes, A.B. and Centeno, T.A.: Mesoporous carbons with graphitic structures fabricated by using porous silica materials as templates and iron-impregnated polypyrrole as precursor. J. Mater. Chem. 15, 1079 (2005).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, C-M., Weidenthaler, C., Spliethoff, B., Mayanna, M., and Schüth, F.: Facile template synthesis of ordered mesoporous carbon with polypyrrole as carbon precursor. Chem. Mater. 17, 355 (2005).Google Scholar
Nam, G., Park, J., Kim, S.T., Shin, D-b., Park, N., Kim, Y., Lee, J-S., and Cho, J.: Metal-free ketjenblack incorporated nitrogen-doped carbon sheets derived from gelatin as oxygen reduction catalysts. Nano Lett. 14, 1870 (2014).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schnepp, Z., Zhang, Y., Hollamby, M.J., Pauw, B.R., Tanaka, M., Matsushita, Y., and Sakka, Y.: Doped-carbon electrocatalysts with trimodal porosity from a homogeneous polypeptide gel. J. Mater. Chem. A 1, 13576 (2013).Google Scholar
Lee, D-W., Jin, M-H., Oh, D., Lee, S-W., and Park, J-S.: Straightforward synthesis of hierarchically porous nitrogen-doped carbon via pyrolysis of chitosan/urea/KOH mixtures and its application as a support for formic acid dehydrogenation catalysts. ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 5, 9935 (2017).Google Scholar
Wang, B., Li, S., Wu, X., Liu, J., and Chen, J.: Biomass chitin-derived honeycomb-like nitrogen-doped carbon/graphene nanosheet networks for applications in efficient oxygen reduction and robust lithium storage. J. Mater. Chem. A 4, 11789 (2016).Google Scholar
Thommes, M., Kaneko, K., Neimark, A.V., Olivier, J.P., Rodriguez-Reinoso, F., Rouquerol, J., and Sing, K.S.W.: Physisorption of gases, with special reference to the evaluation of surface area and pore size distribution (IUPAC Technical Report). Pure Appl. Chem. 87, 1051–1069 (2015).Google Scholar
Sheng, Z.H., Shao, L., Chen, J.J., Bao, W.J., Wang, F.B., and Xia, X.H.: Catalyst-free synthesis of nitrogen-doped graphene via thermal annealing graphite oxide with melamine and its excellent electrocatalysis. ACS Nano 5, 4350 (2011).Google Scholar
Lai, L., Potts, J.R., Zhan, D., Wang, L., Poh, C.K., Tang, C., Gong, H., Shen, Z., Lin, J., and Ruoff, R.S.: Exploration of the active center structure of nitrogen-doped graphene-based catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction. Energy Environ. Sci. 5, 7936 (2012).Google Scholar
Tachibana, N., Ikeda, S., Yukawa, Y., and Kawaguchi, M.: Highly porous nitrogen-doped carbon nanoparticles synthesized via simple thermal treatment and their electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction reaction. Carbon 115, 515 (2017).Google Scholar
Wang, X., Li, X., Zhang, L., Yoon, Y., Weber, P.K., Wang, H., Guo, J., and Dai, H.: N-doping of graphene through electrothermal reactions with ammonia. Science 324, 768 (2009).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: File

Ilnicka et al. supplementary material

Figures S1-S3

Download Ilnicka et al. supplementary material(File)
File 1.1 MB