Carbon Nanomaterials Doped with Sulfur for ORR in Alkaline Media

Fuell cells are recognized as an attractive alternative for clean energy generation. However, their commercialization has been limited by the high cost of their components. Platinum supported on carbon (Pt/C) has been considered a conventional electrocatalyst due to their high electroactivity. However, recent researches works have shown that the free platinum electrocatalyst such as nanostructured carbons doped with heteroatoms (e. g. B, P, N and S) have similar electrocatalytic activities that Pt/C for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline media. This work present the behavior for ORR in alkaline media of nanomaterials based on carbon doped with sulfur. The materials were prepared using a modified chemical vapor deposition method. Toluene and thiophene was used as carbon and sulfur source, respectively, while ferrocene was used as growing agent. Nanocarbons morphology and textural properties are investigated by high resolution transmission and scanning microscopy, X Ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. Electrochemical analysis was evaluated using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and rotating disk electrode (RDE) in 0.1 M KOH media.