Efficient Metal-Free Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction: Polyaniline-Derived N- and O-Doped Mesoporous Carbons

The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR)-one of the two half-reactions in fuel cells-is one of the bottlenecks that has prevented fuel cells from finding a wide range of applications today. This is because ORR is inherently a sluggish reaction; it is also because inexpensive and sustainable ORR electrocatalysts that are not only efficient but also are based on earth-abundant elements are hard to come by. Herein we report the synthesis of novel carbon-based materials that can contribute to solving these challenges associated with ORR. Mesoporous oxygen- and nitrogen-doped carbons were synthesized from in situ polymerized mesoporous silica-supported polyaniline (PANI) by carbonization of the latter, followed by…