Pyrolytic synthesis and characterization of N-doped carbon nanoflakes for electrochemical applications

•Carbon nanoflakes doped with nitrogen were produced by a pyrolytic technique.•Quarternary, pyrrolic and pyridinic types of nitrogen are confirmed by XPS.•Nitrogen content depends on precursor used and temperature processed.•Specific surface area values decrease with increasing of synthesis duration.•N-doped carbon nanoflakes may be suitable for electrochemical applications.

Nitrogen doped carbon nanoflakes, which are very important for many electrochemical applications, were synthesized by pyrolysis of nitrogen containing organic compounds over metal oxide template. Acetonitrile, pyridine and butylamine, which are of different volatility were tested as N-containing precursors. Morphology, structure and chemical composition of the as-synthesized materials were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). It was found that materials are highly defective and consist of a few malformed graphene layers. X-ray photoelectron spectra reflect the dominant graphitic and pyridinic N-bonding configuration. It was also noted that specific surface area depends on the duration and temperature of the reaction. Increase in duration and temperature led to decrease of the specific surface area from 1000 to 160 m2/g, 1170 to 210 m2/g and 1180 to 480 m2/g for acetonitrile, butylamine and pyridine precursors, respectively.

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