Cyanogenic glycosides: A sustainable carbon and nitrogen source for developing resilient Janus reversible oxygen electrocatalysts for metal-air batteries. (December 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Nandan, Ravi; Nanda, Sankalpa
• Is Part Of: Carbon. Volume 155(2019)
• Page Start: 155
• Page End: 165
• Publication Date: 2019-12
• Subjects: Carbon -- Periodicals; Carbone -- Périodiques; Koolstof; Toepassingen; Electronic journals; 546.681
• DOI: 10.1016/j.carbon.2019.08.053
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0008-6223

Abstract

Abstract: Most of the transition metal based heteroatom doped carbon electrocatalysts, utilizes the fossil fuel derived commercially available precursors as source of nitrogen and carbon which may question our environmental generosity. Herein, we have developed Ni-based efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts using apple seeds (that contains cyanogenic glycosides) as the precursor for nitrogen and carbon. With tuning the temperature, we were able to optimize the nitrogen doping up to ∼3 at.%. The optimized electrocatalyst catalyses the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) process with muted peroxide generation (for 0.750–0.1 V the % HO2 − generation ∼3 - 2%), preferential 4e − reduction pathways (n ∼ 3.93 to 3.98 in 0.75–0.1 V range) and electron transfer via inner-sphere electron transfer mechanism which ensures the maximum utilization of instituted active centres owing to the direct interaction of reactant species. Alike to ORR, the superior oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance with smaller Eonset, EJ=10, Tafel slope and enduring accelerated stability test advocates its potential as a bifunctional oxygen electrocatalyst. Moreover, smaller potential gap ΔE (EJ10_OER - E1/2_ORR ) of 0.845 V further warrants the energy efficient OER/ORR process. A porotype of Al-air battery system using our catalysts as oxygen electrode and chocolate wafer as anode material is well capable of powering the light emitting diodes. This study hopefully opens a new avenue to explore cyanogenic glycosides plants product to develop multifunctional electrocatalysts. Graphical abstract: Image 1