Confined polyaniline derived mesoporous carbon for oxygen reduction reaction

Abstract Based on the previous generation of yolk-shell nanostructured polyaniline@SiO 2 particles, a confined carbonization process followed by etching the SiO 2 layer is carried out to achieve carbon particles. The existence of the SiO 2 shell helps to preserve the original well-dispersed morphology of the polyaniline that retains amounts of active sites for oxygen reduction reaction. Furthermore, the CeO 2 oxidant and the SiO 2 shell lead to the increased amount of oxygen existing in the product and the oxygen reduction reaction results show the well-maintained nanostructure with mesopores and the effective O doping benefit for achieving enhanced catalytic activity.