HEXAMETHYLENETETRAMINE (C6H12N4) INDUCED HIGH-DENSITY NITROGEN DOPED REDUCED GRAPHENE: A NOVEL SONO-MICROWAVE ASSISTED SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION TOWARDS RENEWABLE ENERGIES APPLICATIONS.

Abstract

Development of low-cost electrocatalytic material for hydrogen evolution and oxygen reduction reaction (HER and ORR) is the main requirement for many renewable energies like the, Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) and Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolysers (PEME) Photo-electrochemical Water Splitting (PEWS) technologies. Herein, we report a novel, simple, economical and rapid one-pot Sono-microwave assisted synthesis of nitrogen doped graphene (NG) from graphene oxide in presence of a nitrogen precursor (Hexamethylenetetramine). The obtained NG was optimized by varying the ratio of GO to Hexamethylenetetramine to find the optimized N content in the catalyst and investigated as electrocatalyst for the ORR. Transmission electronic microscopy (TEM) and field emission scanning electronic microscopy (FE-SEM) micrograph of optimized NG showed well exfoliated graphene oxide with few layers of graphene while the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) depicts that about 11 % of nitrogen doping into the graphene lattice active forms of pyrrolic-N, pyridinic-N, and graphitic-N in 1:3NG catalyst is 55.00, 33.69, and 11.31 % respectively. Demonstrating the potential attributes of the Material in electrocatalytic renewable energy applications.