Two-electron oxygen reduction on fullerene C(60)-carbon nanotubes covalent hybrid as a metal-free electrocatalyst

Nanocarbon materials are considered to be active for electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) for hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) synthesis. In the present work, a new type of fullerene 60 (C(60))-carbon nanotubes (CNTs) hybrid with covalently attached C(60) onto outer surface of CNTs was synthesized. The structure of C(60)-CNT hybrid was confirmed by physical and chemical characterizations and its conformation is proposed featuring the covalent incorporation of CNTs and C(60) derivative. C(60)-CNT hybrid showed high efficiencies on electro-generating H(2)O(2), owing to huge surface area and intermolecular electron-transfer in the hybrid structure. A high H(2)O(2) production rate of 4834.57 mg L(−1) h(−1) (426.58 mmol L(−1)) was achieved at − 0.2 V vs saturated calomel electrode (SCE).