@article {44172,
	title = {Nitrogen-doped graphene with a three-dimensional architecture assisted by carbon nitride tetrapods as an efficient metal-free electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution},
	journal = {Chemelectrochem},
	volume = {4},
	year = {2017},
	month = {OCT},
	pages = {2643-2652},
	type = {Article},
	abstract = {Current polymer membrane-based electrolyzers use Pt as a cathode catalyst for efficient reduction of water. The high cost of Pt-based catalysts forces researchers to develop alternative electrocatalysts. Here, a simple strategy has been proposed to synthesize a metal-free electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) by high-temperature annealing of graphene oxide-coated melamine foam. The prepared catalyst possesses both structural and functional advantages with its three-dimensional (3D) interconnected arms of carbon nitride (CNx) backbone wrapped with nitrogen-doped graphene (N-RGO) sheets (CNx@N-RGO). CNx@N-RGO faces only a 193 mV overpotential to achieve a current density of 10mAcm(-2), which is far superior to the previously reported Pt-free systems. Along with the high exchange current density 34.7 x 10(-6)A cm(-2) and low Tafel slope of 54 mV dec(-1), CNx@N-RGO follows a Volmer-Heyrovsky mechanism for the HER. DFT calculations show that the synergy between CNx and N-RGO facilitates good electrical coupling between the two moieties and provides optimal binding to H+ ions on the catalyst that, in turn, results in efficient reduction of hydrogen ions.},
	keywords = {carbon nitride, Density functional theory, electrocatalyst, hydrogen evolution reaction, nitrogen doped graphene},
	issn = {2196-0216},
	doi = {10.1002/celc.201700479},
	author = {Gangadharan, Pranav K. and Unni, SreeKuttan M. and Kumar, Nandha and Ghosh, Prasenjit and Kurungot, Sreekumar}
}
@article {47055,
	title = {Toward pH independent oxygen reduction reaction by polydopamine derived 3D interconnected, iron carbide embedded graphitic carbon},
	journal = {ACS Applied Materials \& Interfaces},
	volume = {13},
	year = {2021},
	month = {FEB },
	pages = {8147-8158},
	type = {Article},
	abstract = {<p>Recent advancements on the development of nonprecious electrocatalysts with iron (Fe) incorporated active centers have generated confidence on realizing cost-effective proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). However, most of these catalysts that emerged as a substitution for the platinum supported on carbon (Pt/C) catalysts in oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) are active under basic conditions, and their feasibility in PEMFCs remains as a challenge. In this scenario, this work reports the synthesis of a Pt-free oxygen reduction electrocatalyst prepared by the annealing of polydopamine grown melamine foam. The prepared catalyst has a three-dimensional (3D) interconnected bilayer network structure possessing the carbon nitride backbone wrapped by graphitic carbon layer bearing iron carbides and nitrides as the active centers (3DFePDC). Interestingly, the 3D-FePDC catalyst displayed an ORR activity both under acidic and basic conditions. Whereas the ORR performance of 3D-FePDC closely matches that of the commercial Pt/C in the basic medium, it displays only a low overpotential value of 60 mV under acidic conditions compared to its Pt counterpart. The kinetics of ORR on 3DFePDC is found to be similar to the four-electron (4e) reduction pathway displayed by Pt/C. Testing of a PEMFC in a single cell mode by using 3D-FePDC as the cathode catalyst and Nafion membrane delivered a maximum power density of 278 mW cm(-2), which is a promising value expected from a system based on the nonprecious metal cathode. Ultimately, as a cost-effective catalyst that can effectively perform irrespective of the pH conditions, 3D-FePDC offers significant prospects in the areas like fuel cells and metal-air batteries which work in acidic and/or basic conditions.</p>
},
	keywords = {acidic medium, electrocatalyst, fuel cell, graphitic carbon, Iron carbide, nitrogen doping, nonprecious metal, oxygen reduction reaction},
	issn = {1944-8244},
	doi = {10.1021/acsami.0c18036},
	author = {Gangadharan, Pranav K. and Pandikassala, Ajmal and Kurungot, Sreekumar}
}
