Microstructures and Electrocatalytic Properties of Nitrogen Doped Graphene Synthesized by Pyrolysis of Metal Tetrapyrazinoporphyrazine

Abstract

Nitrogen doped graphene (NG) was synthesized by chemical vapor deposition at 950 °C, using metal tetrapyrazinoporphyrazine (MPTpz, M= Fe, Co, the mass ratio of FePTPz/ CoPTpz is 1: 1) as a precursor. IR testing of FePTpz indicates the existence of C−N and C=N, which was prepared through microwave method. The NG shows a uniformly distributed and cotton-like structure. TEM images suggests that the single and multilayer NG coexists in the products and it is of a graphite-like structure. Electrocatalytic activity of the NG towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) was investigated by the cyclic voltammetry at different scan rates from 20 mV·s-1 to 100 mV·s-1 in an acidic solution. Peak currents and background currents of the NG rose as the scan rate increasing. The maximum peak current is 290.24 mA·cm−2, exhibiting well electrocatalytic activity of the NG toward ORR.