Sonication strategy for anchoring single metal atom oxides (W, Cu, Co) on CeO2-rGO for boosting electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction

Karuppaiah Selvakumar; Tae Hwan Oh; Yueshuai Wang; Thangarasu Sadhasivam; Subramani Sadhasivam; Meenakshisundaram Swaminathan

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.140012

Sonication strategy for anchoring single metal atom oxides (W, Cu, Co) on CeO₂-rGO for boosting electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction

Chemosphere. 2023 Nov:341:140012. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.140012. Epub 2023 Aug 29.

Authors

Karuppaiah Selvakumar¹, Tae Hwan Oh², Yueshuai Wang³, Thangarasu Sadhasivam⁴, Subramani Sadhasivam⁴, Meenakshisundaram Swaminathan⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemical Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan, 38541, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: selvachemistk@gmail.com.
² School of Chemical Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan, 38541, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: taehwanoh@ynu.ac.kr.
³ Institute of Microstructure and Properties of Advanced Materials, Faculty of Materials and Manufacturing, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100124, China. Electronic address: wangyueshuai0078@163.com.
⁴ School of Chemical Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan, 38541, Republic of Korea.
⁵ Nanomaterials Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Kalasalingam Academy of Research and Education, Krishnankoil, 626126, India.

PMID: 37652243
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.140012

Abstract

In the field of electrocatalysis, single-atomic-layer tungsten, copper, and cobalt oxide on CeO₂, ethylene diamine (ED) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) supported materials shows tremendous potential. Despite the enormous interest in single metal atom oxide (SMAO) catalysts, it is still very difficult to directly convert readily available bulk metal oxide into single atom oxide. It is crucial and tough to create high performance materials for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in an alkaline environment. Herein, a single tungsten, copper and cobalt atom oxide (SMAO) anchored on the CeO₂ atomic layer and overall components deposited on the rGO (rGO-ED-CeO₂-WCuCo) is prepared through a one-pot sonication technique. The presence of SMAO is identified by high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) imaging. The electrocatalytic performance of final rGO-ED-CeO₂-WCuCo-30 nanocomposite for the OER in 1 M KOH electrolyte is evidenced by providing low overpotential of 283 mV at 10 mA cm^-2. The Tafel slope for OER using rGO-ED-CeO₂-WCuCo-30 electrocatalysts is 57.03 mV dec^-1. The electrocatalytic activity of rGO-ED-CeO₂-WCuCo-30 nanocomposites for OER was noticeably increased when compared to bare CeO₂ nanorods (401 mV), rGO-ED-CeO₂-WCo-30 (345 mV), rGO-ED-CeO₂-WCu-30 (340 mV) and rGO-ED-CeO₂-WCuCo-20 (321 mV) samples.

Keywords: Electrocatalysts; Oxygen evolution reaction; Single metal atom oxides; Sonication.

MeSH terms

Copper*
Oxides
Oxygen
Sonication*
Tungsten

Substances

graphene oxide
Copper
Tungsten
cobalt oxide
ethylenediamine
Oxides
Oxygen