Xu, T., Zhang, X., Wang, Z., Ng, P. W., Jiao, L., Wang, S.-Q., Khoo, K. H., Xu, Z., Wu, J., & Zhu, J. (2025). Modulating the Cavity Size of Carbon Nanobelts for Enhanced Oxygen Reduction Reaction. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 17(13), 20096–20104. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.4c23016
Abstract:
The pre-activation of reactants within the cavities of carbon nanotubular materials has remained largely unexplored due to the scarcity of materials with well-defined sizes and precisely engineered doping sites. Herein, we demonstrate that the catalytic activity toward oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is primarily governed by the cavity sizes of well-defined nanobelt materials with precisely doped sp2-nitrogen atoms. Our results show that the confinement effect induced by cavity size and the electron-rich chemical environment within the cavity are crucial for O2 adsorption and pre-activation, leading to enhanced catalytic activity. Belt2, with its medium-sized cavity (6.3 Å), exhibits superior ORR catalytic performance compared to Belt1 with its narrower cavity and Belt3/Belt4 with their larger cavities. Notably, Belt2 achieves high half-wave and onset potentials of 0.84 and 0.97 V, respectively, along with an open circuit voltage of 1.32 V and a peak power density of 181 mW cm-2 in a zinc-air battery. This work not only provides a deeper understanding of the geometric factors influencing ORR electrocatalysis of nanocarbon materials but also offers insights into the future design of nanocarbon electrocatalysts for enhancing catalytic efficiency. These findings may also be beneficial for other energy conversion and catalytic materials.
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Funding Info:
This research / project is supported by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research - Manufacturing, Trade, and Connectivity Young Individual Research Grant
Grant Reference no. : M23M7c0118, M23M7c0117
This research / project is supported by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research - Career Development Fund
Grant Reference no. : C233312013