Carbon-Based Metal-Free Catalysts, 2 Volumes

2Carbon‐Based, Metal‐Free Catalysts for Electrocatalysis of ORR

Lijun Yang and Zheng Hu

Nanjing University, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, 163 Xianlin Road, Nanjing, 210023, China

2.1 Introduction

There is no element like carbon possessing so many well‐defined nanoarchitectures and such great versatility in a broad range of applications. By heteroatom doping, functionalization, or decoration, the usage of the carbon nanomaterials could be exponentially expanded. In this chapter, we take the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) as an example to demonstrate how to tailor the sp² carbon to get the desired properties. ORR is the cathodic reaction to reduce O₂ to H₂O or OH⁻ depending on the acidic/alkaline electrolyte. The cathodic ...