%0 Journal Article
%T Synthesis of Nitrogen Doped Carbon and Its Enhanced Electrochemical Activity towards Ascorbic Acid Electrooxidation
%A Sankararao Mutyala
%A Mathiyarasu Jayaraman
%J International Journal of Electrochemistry
%D 2014
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2014/246746
%X Nitrogen doped carbon, synthesized by a novel way of carbonizing polyaniline in an inert atmosphere at a constant temperature of , exhibits several unique features. The carbon: nitrogen ratio is found to increase with the treatment duration up to 120 minutes and a mass reduction of 60 wt% is observed with an interesting observation of the retention of the bulk polymer morphology, surprisingly, even after the carbonization process. The electrochemical activity evaluated with potassium hexacyanoferrate and hexamine ruthenium redox systems at a regular time interval helps to tune the catalytic activity. This type of nitrogen doped carbon prepared from polyaniline base exhibits excellent electrocatalytic activity as illustrated by the oxidation of ascorbic acid in neutral medium. 1. Introduction Carbon is one of the prospective candidates in the field of electroanalysis mainly because of its broad potential window, very little background current, rich surface chemistry, chemical stability, and most importantly abundance [1]. A range of active carbon materials demonstrates requisite characteristics of a good catalyst support; however, they generally exhibit poor inherent catalytic activity for many technologically relevant reactions [2]. Previously, several methods have been used to alter the carbon support in an effort to improve its electrochemical reactivity. In addition to optimization of morphological properties, chemical modification of the carbon surface has been explored in order to enhance or tune the electrochemical activity of the carbon materials. Introduction of heteroatom such as oxygen, nitrogen, boron, sulfur, and halogen into the carbon matrix plays an important role in improving the catalytic performance [3]. For example, boron doping in carbon materials significantly improves the electrical conductivity and it is influenced by the boron doping level [4]. Sulfur doped amorphous carbon has been used as anode material for lithium ion batteries [5]. The added sulfur favorably increases the charge capacity and improves the electrochemical properties of the anode. However, the incorporated sulfur heteroatoms produce some side effects when they exist in unfavourable states. Among the heteroatom¡¯s investigated, nitrogen doped carbon (NDC) has received significant attention as competitive oxygen reduction electrocatalysts. It is because nitrogen atom can donate the lone pair of electron to the carbon substrates more easily, which undergoes delocalization within the carbon material. Therefore, the adsorption properties as well as the electron
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijelc/2014/246746/