Preparation and electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution properties of nonmetallic functionalized carbon nanofiber catalysts

Abstract

In this study, nitrogen-doped carbon nanofibers (N-CNFs) were prepared by electrospinning and one step heat treatment using polyacrylonitrile (PAN) as carbon source and carbon nitride (g-C3N4) as nitrogen source, and different content of g-C3N4 on electrocatalysis effect was studied. The results show that the synthesized carbon nanofibers have both large specific surface area and micro-mesoporous structure, which is beneficial to improve electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) by expose more active sites. Contents of 0.50% (w/V) N-CNFs has excellent catalytic performance. The hydrogen evolution overpotential under acidic and alkaline conditions are 206 and 307 mV on the current density of 10 mA cm-2, the Tafel slope is 106 mV dec-1 (acidic). What's more, catalyst exhibits excellent hydrogen evolution stability for the durability of acidic and alkaline conditions.