Effect of nitrogen doping in carbon-based catalyst materials by electron-beam irradiation in ammonia

Ota, Tomonori*; Yamaki, Tetsuya; Sugimoto, Masaki; Yamamoto, Shunya; Koshikawa, Hiroshi; Hagiwara, Tokio*

Nitrogen-doped carbon-based catalysts are expected as Pt alternatives, and however there have been so far no established methods to introduce N atoms into graphene structures. Thus, we report N doping in carbon-based catalysts by electron beam (EB) irradiation in ammonia (NH). A precursor was phenolic resin or its mixture with 5 or 10 wt% cobalt(II) chloride (CoCl); it was then irradiated with 2 MeV electron beam up to a dose of 6 MGy in 1 vol% NH at 400C. This irradiated powder was carbonized in an Ar atmosphere at 800C for 1 h. An N-doping level reached an atomic concentration of ca. 0.5% when 5 wt% CoCl was mixed in the precursor.