A facile synthesis of hierarchically porous carbon derived from serum albumin by a generated-templating method for efficient oxygen reduction reaction.

ABSTRACT: Hierarchically porous carbons (HPCs), with large specific surface area, abundant porous channels and adequate anchor points, act as one type of ideal carbon supports for the preparation of single-atom electrocatalysts. In this study, the blood plasma-derived HPC with an interconnected porous framework is constructed via a generated-template method, with the formation of ZnS nanoparticles from the abundant disulfide bonds (-S-S-) in serum albumin. After the thermal activation with heme-containing molecules (also from the bovine-blood biowaste), the HPC exhibits high-exposure and low-spin-state Fe(ii)-N₄ atomic active sites, and thereby presents a superior oxygen reduction reaction activity (the half wave potential of 0.87 V) and excellent stability (a 4 mV negative shift after 3000 potential cycles), even comparable with the benchmark Pt/C. This work delivers a new insight into the design and synthesis of porous carbons and carbon-based electrocatalysts to develop bio-derived materials in the field of clean energy conversion and storage.

SUBMITTER: Cai X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9057421 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature