A Bi-functional Cobalt and Nitrogen Co-doped Carbon Catalyst for Aerobic Oxidative Esterification of Benzyl Alcohol with Methanol and Oxygen Reduction Reaction

A bi-functional cobalt and nitrogen co-doped carbon catalyst was fabricated by calcinating the chelate compound containing citric acid, melamine and CoCl2·6H2O in N2, with the mixed salts of LiCl and KCl as the template. Co and N species are highly dispersed in the target catalyst, which has a high surface area of 1011 m2 g−1. Such structure enables it to efficiently catalyze the direct aerobic oxidative esterification of benzyl alcohol with methanol to the ester of methyl benzoate; meanwhile, it exhibits superior potential ability for the application of oxygen reduction reaction, which is a vital process happening on the cathode of fuel cells and metal-air batteries.