Carbon Thin-Film Electrodes as High-Performing Substrates for Correlative Single Entity Electrochemistry.

Correlative methods to characterize single entities by electrochemistry and microscopy/spectroscopy are increasingly needed to elucidate structure-function relationships of nanomaterials. However, the technical constraints often differ depending on the characterization techniques to be applied in combination. One of the cornerstones of correlative single-entity electrochemistry (SEE) is the substrate, which needs to achieve a high conductivity, low roughness, and electrochemical inertness.

Porous N-Doped Carbon-encapsulated Iron as Novel Catalyst Architecture for the Electrocatalytic Hydrogenation of Benzaldehyde.

Carbon porous materials containing nitrogen functionalities and encapsulated iron-based active sites have been suggested as electrocatalysts for energy conversion, however their applications to the hydrogenation of organic substrates via electrocatalytic hydrogenation (ECH) remain unexplored. Herein, we report on a Fe@C:N material synthesized with an adapted annealing procedure and tested as electrocatalyst for the hydrogenation of benzaldehyde. Using different concentrations of the organic, and electrolysis coupled to gas chromatography experiments, we demonstrate that it is possible to use such architectures for the ECH of unsaturated organics.

Oxygen Reduction Reaction Electrocatalysts Derived from Iron Salt and Benzimidazole and Aminobenzimidazole Precursors and Their Application in Microbial Fuel Cell Cathodes.

In this work, benzimidazole (BZIM) and aminobenzimidazole (ABZIM) were used as organic-rich in nitrogen precursors during the synthesis of iron-nitrogen-carbon (Fe-N-C) based catalysts by sacrificial support method (SSM) technique. The catalysts obtained, denoted Fe-ABZIM and Fe-BZIM, were characterized morphologically and chemically through SEM, TEM, and XPS. Moreover, these catalysts were initially tested in rotating ring disk electrode (RRDE) configuration, resulting in similar high electrocatalytic activity toward oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) having low hydrogen peroxide generated (<3%).