Secondary Impact of Manganese on Catalytic Property of N-Doped Graphene in the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Catalysts play a key role in hydrogen production, as a green energy carrier. We have shown for the first time that manganese impurities in graphene can improve the catalytic activity of synthesized N-doped graphene (NG) for the hydrogen evolution reaction in acid media via influencing the ratio of different N-functionalities. This results in a 122 mV improvement in the over-potential following Mn impregnation of graphene. Transmission electron microscopy images confirmed the formation of manganese oxide nanoparticles on NG sheets. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed structural alteration in favour of higher quantities of quaternary and pyrrolic nitrogen functionalities, from approximately 37% in NG to 84% in Mn-inserted-doped graphene catalyst. This enhanced catalytic performance, based on density functional theory (DFT) calculations in the literature, is attributed to an increase in the number of active sites with higher activity.

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