Synthesis of a nitrogen-containing carbon material with oxygen reduction activity from polymer precursors

Idesaki, Akira; Sugimoto, Masaki; Shimada, Akihiko; Yamamoto, Shunya; Taguchi, Mitsumasa; Yamaki, Tetsuya

Recently, development of platinum-substitute catalysts has been studied extensively; it has been found that a nitrogen-containing carbon material shows oxygen reduction activity almost same as platinum metal. We have been studying about synthesis process of a nitrogen-containing carbon material by pyrolysis of polymer precursors which are easy to be shaped as fiber, film, and so on. In this work, some materials were selected as polymer precursors and their organic-inorganic conversion process were investigated. It was found that polyimide and phenol resin show high carbon yield of 50-60% and graphite structure is formed above 800C.