Recently, Professor Wang Shuangyin's research group at the State Key Laboratory of Chemical Biosensing and Chemometrics and the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of our university have made important progress in the application of carbon materials for electrocatalytic oxygen reduction (ORR) and oxygen evolution (OER) reactions. The research group modified the surface of carbon fiber through plasma technology to significantly improve the oxygen catalytic performance of the material. The research results were published in the well-known journal Advanced Materials (Influence Factor 18.9).
Carbon fiber surface modification
Finding green sustainable energy is a goal that researchers have been pursuing in recent years. New generations of energy technologies such as fuel cells, metal-air batteries, and water-splitting devices have attracted more and more attention. Electrocatalytic ORR and OER are two important parts of a new generation of energy technologies. However, the reaction kinetics is poor, and it is very important to develop an efficient and cheap electrocatalyst. Non-metallic materials have been used extensively to catalyze ORR and OER. These materials are usually coated on a three-dimensional conductive substrate to facilitate the transfer of electrons and substances, and the electrode fabrication process is complicated. The research group used plasma technology to treat carbon cloths and in-situ produce highly active catalysts. With the strong etching function of Ar plasma, edge-rich/defective amorphous carbon is stripped from the carbon fiber surface in-situ. The dangling bonds of these defect sites are exposed to air and react with O2 or H2O to achieve oxygen functionalization. Compared with pure carbon cloth, the plasma-etched carbon cloth shows better conductivity and mass transfer ability, has a larger specific surface area, and exposes more active sites to catalyze OER and ORR. Combining with theoretical calculations, it shows that edge carbon, oxygen doping and defects generated by plasma etching play an important role in promoting ORR and OER.
The first author of the paper is Liu Zhijuan, a second-grade student of Zhibo.
Part of the author's photo
Pps Rod,Pps Bar,Plastic Pps Bar,Plastic Pps Rod
Ningbo Zero Engineering Plastics Co.,Ltd , https://www.zero-peek.com