Soybean milk derived carbon intercalated with reduced graphene oxide as high efficient electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction

Abstract Exploring high-performance and low-cost metal-free oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts from biomass-derived materials is vital to the development of novel energy conversion devices such as fuel cells, etc. Herein, nitrogen-enriched soybean milk derived carbon (BDC/rGO-HT-NH3) intercalated with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) electrocatalyst is prepared via one-pot hydrothermal synthesis method followed with nitridation by NH3. The resultant catalyst with high surface area, good conductivity and high content of N (9.4 at.%) shows high electrocatalytic activity towards ORR in alkaline medium, which mainly happens through the direct 4-electron pathway. The onset potential of BDC/rGO-HT-NH3 catalyzed ORR is 0.96 V vs RHE, which is only 0.11 V lower than that of the commercial Pt/C (20 wt%) catalyst. In addition, the BDC/rGO-HT-NH3 catalyst shows superior long-term running durability. The desirable catalytic performances enable the facile synthesis approach of BDC/rGO-HT-NH3 to be a promising methodology for transforming other biomass materials to N-enriched carbon based materials as low-cost and environmental friendly catalysts for ORR.