Abstract
The naturally occurring Palaeoproterozoic carbon mineral shungite is a complex raw carbon microporous matrix, loaded with a wide range of elements. Shungite exhibits a disordered and amorphous structure with highly irregular building blocks. Shungite incorporates metals in its structure; typically catalytic elements such Fe and Ni are present, as well as the toxic elements Pb and As at mg g−1 levels. We show here that incorporation of the metals in the carbon matrix of shungite leads into synergistic catalytic effect. We investigate the application of shungite in energy related electrochemical catalytic reactions, such as the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). All elements have a synergetic effect, thus contributing for shungite′s interesting catalytic performance towards a different range of electrochemical reactions, outperforming other tested carbon allotropes, such as carbon black, metal loaded carbon nanotubes, fullerene, and glassy carbon. These findings have profound impact on the application of the natural carbon materials for catalysis.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 18232-18238 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Chemistry - A European Journal |
Volume | 23 |
Issue number | 72 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2017 Dec 22 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:M.P. was funded by Tier 1 (01/13) from Ministry of Education, Singapore. Z.S. and D.B. were supported by Czech science foundation (GACR No. 15-09001S and GACR No. 16-05167S) and by specific university research (MSMT No. 20-SVV/2017). This work was created with the financial support of the Neuron Foundation for science support. The authors also acknowledge Dr. B. Khezri her assistance with the ICP-MS results. This work was supported by the project Advanced Functional Nanorobots (reg. No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15 003/0000444 financed by the EFRR).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Catalysis
- Organic Chemistry