Nitrogen Doping Effects on Carbon Nanotubes and the Origin of the Enhanced Electrocatalytic Activity of Supported Pt for Proton-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells
Abstract
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (CNx) were synthesized by the floating catalyst chemical vapor deposition (FCCVD) method. Pt nanoparticles were deposited onto the two catalyst supports with the ethylene glycol reduction method. Different from CNTs that contain straight hollow tubes, CNx contain a bamboolike structure with kinks along the tubes and more surface defects. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirms the nitrogen atoms in the graphite matrix and reveals the chemical natures of the doped nitrogen atoms. Carbon K-edge near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) and Raman characterizations reveal higher defectiveness in CNx than CNTs. The unique structure and surface property of CNx leads to a better dispersion of Pt nanoparticles on CNx than on CNTs, as revealed by TEM images. Pt supported on CNx (Pt/CNx) exhibited a higher electrochemical surface area (ECSA) and higher catalytic activity toward oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), in comparison to Pt supported on CNTs (Pt/CNTs). Better performance of Pt/CNx than Pt/CNTs has been confirmed by single-cell fuel cell tests.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The Pt0 peak at 71.5 eV in Pt-Chitosan-CA indicated the effect of naturally doped N, which caused a lower shift in the Pt0 peak.
“Though Pt-NPs were small in Pt-Chitosan-CA (similar to Pt-Vulcan, around 2 nm), the Pt0 peak was 71.5 eV, which indicated the effect of naturally doped N, that caused a lower shift in the Pt0 peak.[80]”
Cites
Evolution of nitrogen functionalities in carbonaceous materials during pyrolysis
Pels, J. R., Kapteijn, F., Moulijn, J. A., Zhu, Q., & Thomas, K. M. (1995) · Carbon · doi:10.1016/0008-6223(95)00154-6 · Cited by 2,041 · see citing works
Shao, Y., Sui, J., Yin, G., & Gao, Y. (2008) · Applied Catalysis B: Environmental · doi:10.1016/j.apcatb.2007.09.047 · Cited by 763 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Tailored design of functional nanoporous carbon materials toward fuel cell applications
Tang, J., Liu, J., Torad, N. L., Kimura, T., & Yamauchi, Y. (2014) · Nano Today · doi:10.1016/j.nantod.2014.05.003 · Cited by 266 · see citing works
Ultralow platinum loading proton exchange membrane fuel cells: Performance losses and solutions
Banham, D., Zou, J., Mukerjee, S., Liu, Z., Yang, D., Zhang, Y., Peng, Y., & Dong, A. (2021) · Journal of Power Sources · doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2021.229515 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
Wang, G., Zou, L., Huang, Q., Zou, Z., & Yang, H. (2019) · Journal of Materials Chemistry A · doi:10.1039/c8ta12382a · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Alsuhile, A., Pein, P. S., Barım, Ş. B., Bozbağ, S. E., Smirnova, I., Erkey, C., & Schroeter, B. (2025) · Advanced Energy and Sustainability Research · doi:10.1002/aesr.202400433 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
- Authors
- Chen, Y., Wang, J., Liu, H., Banis, M. N., Li, R., Sun, X., Sham, T.-K., Ye, S., & Knights, S.
- Affiliations
- Western University (CA)
- Ballard Power Systems (Canada) (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Sun, Xueliang
- Venue
- The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2011-02-14
- Volume
- 115
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 3769-3776
- ISSN
- 1932-7447 (ISSN-L)
- 1932-7455
- OpenAlex
- W2319820982
- Cited by
- 241
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 21 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 26 · 2014: 35 · 2013: 26 · 2012: 19
- FWCI
- 11.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Journal of Physical Chemistry C (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Fuel Cells and Related Materials
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Catalytic Processes in Materials Science
- Keywords
- nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes, carbon nanotubes, platinum nanoparticles, electrocatalysis, oxygen reduction reaction, proton exchange membrane fuel cells, floating catalyst chemical vapor deposition, surface defects, platinum dispersion, electrochemically active surface area, supported catalysts
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
