Abstract
As a new catalytic material with excellent performance, nitrogen (N)-doped carbon nanocages with high surface reactivity has extremely broad application prospects in electrocatalysis. In this study, N-doped graphene-like carbon nanocages (NGCNs) modified by trace nickel (Ni) species (possible components are: single atoms and clusters) were prepared from nickel acetate, carbon source and nitrogen source by thermal decomposition acid etching methods. The excess Ni was removed by acid etching, and finally a three-dimensional (3D) NGCNs-supported atomic nickel catalyst was obtained. Then the catalyst was characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). At the same time, the 3D NGCNs-supported atomic nickel catalyst was assembled into oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrodes for electrochemical evaluation, and the possible synergistic effect betwen Ni single atom and Ni cluster or N-doped carbon and Ni in NGCNs was also suggested.