Abstract
Highly active and durable catalysts play a key role in clean energy technologies. However, the high cost, low reserves, and poor stability of noble-metal-based catalysts have hindered the large-scale development of renewable energy. Owing to their low cost, earth abundance, high activity, and excellent stability, carbon-based metal-free catalysts (CMFCs) are promising alternatives to precious-metal-based catalysts. Although many synthetic methods based on solution, surface/interface, solid state, and noncovalent chemistries have been developed for producing numerous CMFCs with diverse structures and functionalities, there is still a lack of effective approaches to precisely control the structures of active sites. Therefore, novel chemical approaches are needed for the development of highly active and durable CMFCs that are capable of replacing precious-metal catalysts for large-scale applications. Herein, a comprehensive and critical review on chemical approaches to CMFCs is given by summarizing important advancements, current challenges, and future perspectives in this emerging field. Through such a critical review, our understanding of CMFCs and the associated synthetic processes will be significantly increased.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Article number | 1804863 |
Journal | Advanced Materials |
Volume | 31 |
Issue number | 13 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 27 2019 |
Funding
Graphene quantum dots supported by GNRs N,P-codoped GNR/CNT composites Heteroatom (B,N,S-,N,P,F-) doped graphene Phosphorus and halogen dual-doped graphene N,P-codoped graphene/carbon nanosheets; N-doped carbon from PANI,PPy,PDA,PAN 3D N,P-codoped mesoporous nanocarbon from PANI hydrogels 3D Ultrathin N,P-codoped carbon nanosheets N-doped holey graphitic from covalent organic polymers NPS-C-MOF-5; N-doped porous carbon from ZIF-7 and ZIF-8 N-doped mesoporous carbon from ionic liquid Micro-and mesoscopically N-doped carbon N-doped nanoporous C/CNT membranes N-doped graphene; N,S-codoped 3D graphene This work was financially supported by The National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFA0206500), The National Natural Science Foundation of China (51732002, 21720102002, and 21620102007), Distinguished Scientist Program at BUCT (buctylkxj02), The Open-funding Program of the State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites (oic-201701002), The “111” project of China (B14004), Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, BUCT, CWRU, NSF (CMMI-1400274), and NASA (NNX16AD48A, NNC16CA42C). Prof. Feng acknowledges the EC under Graphene Flagship (No. CNECT-ICT-604391), European Social Fund (ESF), and MAXNET Energy Project. X.Z. and S.D. were sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Geoscience, and Bioscience Division.
Keywords
- carbon
- chemical approaches
- electrocatalysts
- metal-free catalysts
- photocatalysts