Tailored ionic liquid for metal-free carbons toward oxygen reduction reaction

Abstract Carbon catalysts have been widely used for various electrochemical reactions including oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and their catalytic activities are significantly dependent on carbon precursors. Ionic liquids (ILs) are promising precursors of heteroatom-doped carbon electrocatalysts for ORR. Herein, we demonstrated that an IL tailored with π-π conjugated interaction introduced by a π-electron enriched aromatic ring can offer a carbon material with improved ORR activity.