Electrodes of Nitrogen-Incorporated Tetrahedral Amorphous Carbon A Novel Thin-Film Electrocatalytic Material with Diamond-like Stability

Electrodes of conductive nitrogen‐incorporated tetrahedral amorphous carbon films ( taC : N ) deposited at ambient temperatures are shown to possess an extraordinary combination of the stability associated with boron‐doped diamonds and greatly enhanced electrocatalytic properties. In this first communication on the electrochemistry of deposited thin films of taC : N , we show that this material demonstrates more active charge transfer properties on a variety of systems relative to the H ‐ terminated , highly boron‐doped diamond ( B ‐ diamond ) . Stability is shown by chlorine evolution from HCI solution for > 10 4 times the coulombs necessary for 4 e / C ‐ atom oxidation to CO 2 of a 40 nm thick taC : N film without noticeable change of the voltammetry. Propitious attributes result from the high nitrogen content coupled with the sp 2 / sp 3 mixed character of the amorphous semiconductor, which can be deposited at room temperature on practically any substrate.