Nitrogen Doped Porous Carbons Derived from Walnut Shell as an Oxygen Reduction Catalyst for Mg-Air Batteries

The present study proposes a nitrogen-doped carbon material with an improved pore structure, facilitating efficient mass transfer and offering abundant active sites for electrocatalytic oxygen reduction. The present study successfully synthesized a series of N-doped carbons with three-dimensional interpenetrating layered porous structures by utilizing NaOH as a pore-forming agent during the carbonization process of biomass refuse. The half-wave potential of NWSC0.6 (N-doped walnut shells carbon) (E1/2 = 0.849 V) exceeds that of 20 wt% Pt/C by 9 mV. The catalyst exhibited exceptional catalytic performance and remarkable stability. The discharge voltage of the Mg-air battery utilizing NWSC0.6 as the cathode catalyst consistently outperforms that of the battery employing 20% wt% Pt/C as the cathode catalyst. The synthesis of noble-metal-free catalysts derived from natural biological resources exhibits superior electrochemical performance in Mg-air batteries

Kun Liu, Fanqing Ji, Guangyue Zhou, Jing Wang, Haoyi Li, Xiuxian Quan, Angli Zhang, Kaiqi Liu, Xucheng Fu and Xiaowu Liu