Carbon-Based Metal-Free Catalysts, 2 Volumes

3Defective Carbons for Electrocatalytic Oxygen Reduction

Xuecheng Yan and Xiangdong Yao

Griffith University, School of Natural Sciences and Queensland Micro‐ and Nanotechnology Centre, Nathan Campus, QLD 4111, Australia

3.1 Introduction

Natural resources are now under strain, and the environmental issues are becoming more serious than ever before owing to the rapid industrialization and modernization as well as the irrational use of energy. It is, therefore, of paramount importance to develop new technologies to utilize clean and sustainable energies, of which fuel cell is regarded as a promising candidate. Briefly, a fuel cell generates electricity by oxidizing a chemical fuel at the anode and reducing oxygen at the cathode, where the ...