Characterization and oxygen reduction activities of boron-doped ordered mesoporous carbons synthesized by soft-template method

Öz

Boron-doped ordered mesoporous carbons (B-OMCs) were synthesized by a onepot soft-templating strategy, where resorcinol and formaldehyde were used as carbon sources, boric acid was used as boron source, and Pluronic F127 was used as structure directing agent. The effect of temperature and the boric acid content on the physical and electrochemical properties of the resultant materials were investigated. Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) was used for elemental analysis of the samples. The synthesis temperature did not have an overall positive effect on the doping of boron with a fixed amount of boron source. However, there was a clear increase in the doped-boron content when both the temperature and the boric acid content were increased. Nitrogen adsorption analysis isotherms showed that the samples had similar ordered mesoporous structures with surface areas varying between 535 and 712 m2/g. The uniform morphology in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) also confirmed the ordered mesoporous structure. Employing cyclic voltammetry analysis, the highest oxygen reduction activity (-0.28 mA/cm2) was achieved with the highest boron-doping percentage (0.29%) for a synthesis temperature of 77°C and boric acid to carbon ratio of 2. These results show that the boron-doped ordered mesoporous carbon is a promising material as catalyst support for improving the oxygen reduction reaction activity.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Ordered mesoporous carbon
• Boron-doping
• Soft-template synthesis
• Oxygen reduction reaction

Kaynakça

1. [1] Dicks, A. L. (2006) The role of carbon in fuel cells. Journal of Power Sources, 156(2), 128-141. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2006.02.054
2. [2] Chen, Y., Zhang, S., Jung, J. C. Y., & Zhang, J. (2023) Carbons as low-platinum catalyst supports and non-noble catalysts for polymer electrolyte fuel cells. Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, 98, 101101. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.pecs.2023.101101
3. [3] Chang, H., Joo, S. H., & Pak, C. (2007) Synthesis and characterization of mesoporous carbon for fuel cell applications. Journal of Materials Chemistry, 17(30), 3078. https://doi.org/10.1039/B700389G
4. [4] Eftekhari, A., & Fan, Z. (2017). Ordered mesoporous carbon and its applications for electrochemical energy storage and conversion. Materials Chemistry Frontiers, 1(6), 1001-1027. https://doi.org/10.1039/C6QM00298F
5. [5] Liang, C., Li, Z., & Dai, S. (2008) Mesoporous carbon materials: Synthesis and modification. Angewandte Chemie-International Edition, 47(20), 3696-3717. https:// doi.org/10.1002/anie.200702046
6. [6] Chauhan, S. (2021) Synthesis of ordered mesoporous carbon by soft template method. Materials Today: Proceedings, 81, 842-847. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. matpr.2021.04.257
7. [7] Ma, T.-Y., Liu, L., & Yuan, Z. Y. (2013) Direct synthesis of ordered mesoporous carbons. Chemical Society Reviews, 42(9), 3977-4003. https://doi.org/10.1039/ C2CS35301F
8. [8] Gao Y., Wang, Q., Ji, G., Li, A., & Niu, J. (2021) Doping strategy, properties and application of heteroatom-doped ordered mesoporous carbon. RSC Advances, 11, 5361- 5383. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0RA08993A

9. [9] Ozaki, J.-I., Kimura, N., Anahara, T., & Oya, A. (2007) Preparation and oxygen reduction activity of BN-doped carbons. Carbon, 45(9), 1847-1853. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.carbon.2007.04.031
10. [10] Paraknowitsch, J. P., & Thomas, A. (2013). Doping carbons beyond nitrogen: an overview of advanced heteroatom doped carbons with boron, sulfur, and phosphorus for energy applications. Energy & Environmental Science, 6(10), 2839. https://doi. org/10.1039/C3EE41444B
11. [11] Yang, T., Liu, J., Zhou, R., Chen, Z., Xu, H., Qiao, S. Z., & Monteiro, M. J. (2014) N-doped mesoporous carbon spheres as the oxygen reduction reaction catalysts. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2(42), 18139-18146. https://doi.org/10.1039/C4TA04301D
12. [12] Xie, L., Zhou, W., Qu, Z., Ding, Y., Gao, J., Sun, F., Qin, Y. (2022) Understanding the activity origin of oxygen-doped carbon materials in catalyzing the two-electron oxygen reduction reaction towards hydrogen peroxide generation. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 610, 934-943. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2021.11.144
13. [13] Zhang, P., Liu, X. H., Li, K. X., & Lu, Y. R. (2015) Heteroatom-doped highly porous carbon derived from petroleum coke as efficient cathode catalyst for microbial fuel cells. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 40(39): 13530-13537. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. ijhydene.2015.08.025
14. [14] Yang, L., Jiang, S., Zhao, Y., Zhu, L., Chen, S., Wang, X., & Hu, Z. (2011) Boron-doped carbon nanotubes as metal-free electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction. Angewandte Chemie, International Edition, 50(31), 7132-7135. https://doi.org/10.1002/ anie.201101287
15. [15] Sheng, Z. H., Gao, H. L., Bao, W. J., Wang, F. B., Xia, X. H. (2012). Synthesis of boron-doped graphene for oxygen reduction reaction in fuel cells. Journal of Materials Chemistry, 22, 390. https://doi.org/10.1039/ C1JM14694G
16. [16] Su, J., Cao, X., Wu, J., Jin, C., Tian, J. H., & Yang, R. (2016). One-pot synthesis of boron-doped ordered mesoporous carbons as efficient electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction. RSC Advances, 6, 24728- 24737. https://doi.org/10.1039/C6RA01296E
17. [17] Zeng, K., Su J., Cao, X., Zheng, X., Li, X., Tian, J.-T., & Yang, R. (2020) B, N Co-Doped ordered mesoporous carbon with enhanced electrocatalytic activity for the oxygen reduction reaction. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 824, 153908. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jallcom.2020.153908
18. [18] Barrera, D., Florent, M., Sapag, K., & Bandosz, T. J. (2019) Insight into the mechanism of oxygen reduction reaction on micro/mesoporous carbons: Ultramicropores versus nitrogen-containing catalytic centers in ordered pore structure. ACS Applied Energy Materials, 2(10), 7412-7424. https://doi.org/10.1021/ acsaem.9b01427
19. [19] Bo, X., & Guo, L. (2013) Ordered mesoporous boron-doped carbons as metal-free electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction in an alkaline solution. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 15, 2459-2465. https://doi.org/10.1039/c2cp43541a
20. [20] Li, J., Shi, J., Bao, A., & Jia, J. (2021) Development of boron-doped mesoporous carbon materials for use in CO2 capture and electrochemical generation of H2O2. ACS Omega, 6(12), 8438-8446. https://doi. org/10.1021/acsomega.1c00197
21. [21] Panomsuwan, G., Saito, N., & Ishizaki, T. (2015) Electrocatalytic oxygen reduction activity of boron-doped carbon nanoparticles synthesized via solution plasma process. Electrochemistry Communications, 59, 81-85. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.elecom.2015.07.005
22. [22] Ferrero, G. A., Preuss, K., Fuertes, A. B., Sevilla, M., & Titirici, M. M. (2016) The influence of pore size distribution on the oxygen reduction reaction performance in nitrogen-doped carbon microspheres, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 4, 2581-2589. http:// doi.org/10.1039/C5TA10063A
23. [23] Zahoor, A., Christy, M., Hwang, Y. J., Lim, Y. R., Kim, P., & Nahm, K. S. (2014) Improved electrocatalytic activity of carbon materials by nitrogen doping, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 147, 633-641. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2013.09.043
24. [24] Enterria, M., Pereira, M. F. R., Martins, J. I., & Figueiredo, J. L. (2015). Hydrothermal functionalization of ordered mesoporous carbons: the effect of boron on supercapacitor performance. Carbon, 95, 72-83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2015.08.009
25. [25] Song, J., Zhang, Y., & Liu, Y. (2015). The influence of formaldehyde/phenol molar ratio on the microstructure of B-OMCs. RSC Advances, 5(27), 20734-20740. https://doi.org/10.1039/C4RA13078B
26. [26] Zhang, Y., Dai, W., Liu, Y., Ma, B. (2017). Synthesis and characterization of boron-doped ordered mesoporous carbon by evaporation-induced self-assembly under HCl conditions. RSC Advances, 7(14), 8250–8257. https://doi.org/10.1039/C6RA26841B
27. [27] Ohtaki, H. (2003). Effects of temperature and pressure on hydrogen bonds in water and formamide. Journal of Molecular Liquids, 103-104, 3-13. https://doi. org/10.1016/S0167-7322(02)00124-1
28. [28] Wickramaratne, N., & Jaroniec, M. (2012). Adsorption and structural properties of ordered mesoporous carbons synthesized by soft-templating in the presence of boric acid and tetraethyl orthosilicate. RSC Advances, 2(5), 1877. https://doi.org/10.1039/C2RA00920J
29. [29] Pantea, D., Darmstadt, H., Kaliaguine, S., & Roy C. (2003) Electrical conductivity of conductive carbon blacks: Influence of surface chemistry and topology. Applied Surface Science, 217(1-4):181-193. https://doi. org/10.1016/S0169-4332(03)00550-6
30. [30] Alexander, S., de Vos, W. M., Castle, T. C., Cosgrove, T., & Prescott, S. W. (2012) Growth and shrinkage of pluronic micelles by uptake and release of flurbiprofen: Variation of pH. Langmuir, 28(16), 6539-6545. https:// doi.org/10.1021/la204262w
31. [31] Zhang, C., Wang, G., Zhang, X., & Zhang, Y. (2016). High-loading Pt nanoparticles on mesoporous carbon with large mesopores for highly active methanol electro-oxidation. Journal of Solid-State Electrochemistry, 20(6), 1705-1712. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-016-3177-8
32. [32] Ma, Y., Wang, H., Ji, S., Goh, J., Feng, H., & Wang, R. (2014) Highly active Vulcan carbon composite for oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline medium. Electrochimica Acta, 133, 391-398. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.electacta.2014.04.080