Frontiers in Chemistry (Dec 2017)

Fine-Tuning the Wall Thickness of Ordered Mesoporous Graphene by Exploiting Ligand Exchange of Colloidal Nanocrystals

  • Dandan Han,
  • Yancui Yan,
  • Jishi Wei,
  • Biwei Wang,
  • Tongtao Li,
  • Guannan Guo,
  • Dong Yang,
  • Songhai Xie,
  • Angang Dong

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2017.00117
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 5

Abstract

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Because of their unique physical properties, three-dimensional (3D) graphene has attracted enormous attention over the past years. However, it is still a challenge to precisely control the layer thickness of 3D graphene. Here, we report a novel strategy to rationally adjust the wall thickness of ordered mesoporous graphene (OMG). By taking advantage of ligand exchange capability of colloidal Fe3O4 nanocrystals, we are able to fine-tune the wall thickness of OMG from 2 to 6 layers of graphene. When evaluated as electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction upon S and N doping, the 4-layer OMG is found to show better catalytic performance compared with their 2- and 6-layer counterparts, which we attribute to the enhanced exposure of active sites arising from the thin wall thickness and high surface area.

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