@misc{10481/105775,
year = {2024},
month = {12},
url = {https://hdl.handle.net/10481/105775},
abstract = {The development of sustainable and high-performance oxygen reduction reaction (ORR)
electrocatalysts is fundamental to fuel cell implementation. Non-precious transition metal oxides
present interesting electrocatalytic behavior, and their incorporation into N-doped carbon supports
leads to excellent ORR performance. Herein, we prepared a shrimp shell-derived biochar (CC), which
was doped with nitrogen via a ball milling approach (N-CC), and then used as support for Co3O4
nanoparticles growth (N-CC@Co3O4
). Co3O4
loading was optimized using three different amounts of
cobalt precursor: 1.56, 2.33 and 3.11 mmol in N-CC@Co3O4_1, N-CC@Co3O4_2 and N-CC@Co3O4_3,
respectively. Interestingly, all prepared electrocatalysts, including the initial biochar CC, presented
electrocatalytic activity towards ORR. Both N-doping and the introduction of Co3O4 NPs had a
significant positive effect on ORR performance. Meanwhile, the three composites showed distinct
ORR behavior, demonstrating that it is possible to tune their electrocatalytic performance by changing
the Co3O4
loading. Overall, N-CC@Co3O4_2 achieved the most promising ORR results, displaying
an Eonset of 0.84 V vs. RHE, jL of −3.45 mA cm−2 and excellent selectivity for the 4-electron reduction
(n = 3.50), besides good long-term stability. These results were explained by a combination of high
content of pyridinic-N and graphitic-N, high ratio of pyridinic-N/graphitic-N, and optimized Co3O4
loading interacting synergistically with the porous N-CC support},
organization = {Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT/MCTES) - (project EXPL/BII-BIO/0436/2021)},
publisher = {MDPI},
keywords = {Biochar},
keywords = {Electrocatalyst},
keywords = {Oxygen reduction},
keywords = {Cobalt oxide},
title = {In Situ Synthesis of Co3O4 Nanoparticles on N-Doped Biochar as High-Performance Oxygen Reduction Reaction Electrocatalysts},
doi = {10.3390/catal14120951},
author = {Matos, Renata and Manuel, Jorge V. and Fernandes, António J.S. and Abdelkader Fernández, Víctor Karim and F. Peixoto, Andreia and Fernandes, Diana M.},
}