Stimulation of electrocatalytic oxygen reduction activity on nitrogen doped graphene through noncovalent molecular functionalisation.

Molecular doping on graphene, through noncovalent functionalization offers a great opportunity to tune charge density on graphene for catalytic applications. Although enhanced oxygen reduction activity has been reported in heteroatom doped graphene, the synergistic advantage of molecular and heteroatom co-doping has not yet been studied. Here, we report the remarkably enhanced catalytic activity of benzoate or 1-pyrenebutyrate functionalized N-doped graphene (BA-NrGO/PB-NrGO) towards the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline medium.