CoNiSe2 Nanostructures for Clean Energy Production

Balasubramanian Jansi Rani; Ganesan Ravi; Rathinam Yuvakkumar; Balasubramaniam Saravanakumar; Mariyappan Thambidurai; Cuong Dang; Dhayalan Velauthapillai

doi:10.1021/acsomega.0c01476

CoNiSe₂ Nanostructures for Clean Energy Production

ACS Omega. 2020 Jun 9;5(24):14702-14710. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.0c01476. eCollection 2020 Jun 23.

Authors

Balasubramanian Jansi Rani¹, Ganesan Ravi¹, Rathinam Yuvakkumar¹, Balasubramaniam Saravanakumar², Mariyappan Thambidurai³, Cuong Dang³, Dhayalan Velauthapillai⁴

Affiliations

¹ Nanomaterials Laboratory, Department of Physics, Alagappa University, Karaikudi 630003, Tamil Nadu, India.
² Laboratory for Advanced Research in Polymeric Materials (LARPM), Central Institute of Plastics Engineering & Technology (CIPET), Bhubaneswar 751024, India.
³ Centre for OptoElectronics and Biophotonics (COEB), School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The Photonics Institute (TPI), Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798.
⁴ Faculty of Engineering and Science, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bergen 5063, Norway.

Abstract

Comparative investigation of the electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity for clean energy production was performed by fabricating three different electrodes, namely, NiSe₂, CoSe₂, and CoNiSe₂, synthesized by hydrothermal treatment. Cubic, orthorhombic, and hexagonal structures of NiSe₂, CoSe₂, and CoNiSe₂ were confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and also by other characterization studies. Perfect nanospheres, combination of distorted nanospheres and tiny nanoparticles, and sharp-edge nanostructures of NiSe₂, CoSe₂, and CoNiSe₂ were explored by surface morphological images. Higher OER activity of the binary CoNiSe₂ electrode was achieved as 188 mA/g current density with a comparatively low overpotential of 234 mV along with higher conductivity and low charge transfer resistance when compared to its unary NiSe₂ and CoSe₂ electrodes. A low Tafel slope value of 82 mV/dec was also achieved for the same binary CoNiSe₂ electrode in a half-cell configuration. The overall 100% retention achieved for all of the fabricated electrodes in a stability test of OER activity suggested that the excellent optimum condition was obtained during the synthesis. This could definitely be a revelation in the synthesis of novel binary combinations of affordable metal selenides for clean energy production.