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Development of a high-performance electrocatalyst for an oxygen reduction reaction with a low-cost bulk production method is crucial for practical applications of metal–air batteries, oxygen sensors, fuel cells, and so on. Here, we developed a bulk production method for nitrogen- and ferrum-doped nanoporous carbon microspheres as a high-performance ORR catalyst. The process involved hydrothermal carbonization of starch with iron ions as catalysts to catalyze the formation of carbon spheres and annealing the carbon spheres in an NH3 atmosphere. NH3 was used not only as the nitrogen source to form the N-doped carbon material but also to etch the carbon to produce a nanoporous carbon material, which has high surface area and pore volume. As a highly available, accessible, and recyclable biomass, starch can be used to achieve a cheap electrocatalyst. The proposed approach is simple and scalable. The typical product has excellent activity in alkaline media and high activity in acidic media. The typical product...

This article presents the effects of different packing materials in dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor on benzene removal efficiency to clarify the mechanism of combining efficiency between nonthermal plasma and catalyst over organic contaminants degradation. The influence of γ-Al2O3 and Pt/γ-Al2O3 catalysts on benzene decomposition was examined by passing gaseous benzene through two DBD reactors, each packed with one of the catalysts mentioned above. Concentrations of benzene, CO, CO2, NO2, and NO were measured and decomposition efficiency (of benzene), selectivity (of CO and CO2), and carbon balance were calculated to compare the effects of γ-Al2O3 catalyst with that of Pt/γ-Al2O3 catalyst in DBD reactors on benzene degradation. Data showed that at the same input energy density, benzene decomposition efficiency increased by about 20%, whereas the amount of CO released decreased by about 50% when using Pt/γ-Al2O3 catalyst. From the Arrhenius plot, the activation energy of Pt/γ-Al2O3 cata...

Effects of gas temperature on the conversion of benzene and the selectivity of CO and CO2 are analyzed and compared in dielectric barrier discharges. Gas temperature is determined by the method of the optical emission spectroscopy. The result is found that the conversion of benzene increases linearly with gas temperature. The selectivity of CO and CO2 and carbon balance are also investigated.

Effects of the surface roughness of dielectric barrier discharge reactors on benzene decomposition are analyzed and compared. It is found that increasing the roughness of the reactor surface improves benzene consumption at low specific energy density (SED) and promotes CO formation and carbon balance at high SED. In addition, it is also found that the release of NO and NO2 is restrained in the reactor with a rough surface at high SED. It is suggested that these results are attributed to the surface reactions on the rough surface.