Zinc oxide nanoflakes supported copper oxide nanosheets as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for OER and HER in an alkaline medium

M Praveen Kumar; Natesan Kumaresan; R V Mangalaraja; Irina Zaporotskova; A Arulraj; G Murugadoss; A Pugazhendhi

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2024.119030

Zinc oxide nanoflakes supported copper oxide nanosheets as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for OER and HER in an alkaline medium

Environ Res. 2024 Apr 26;252(Pt 4):119030. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.119030. Online ahead of print.

Authors

M Praveen Kumar¹, Natesan Kumaresan², R V Mangalaraja³, Irina Zaporotskova⁴, A Arulraj⁵, G Murugadoss⁶, A Pugazhendhi⁷

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Engineering and Sciences, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Diagonal Las Torres 2640, Peñalolén, Santiago, Chile.
² Department of Physics, SSN Research Centre, Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering, Chennai, 603110, Tamil Nadu, India.
³ Faculty of Engineering and Sciences, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Diagonal Las Torres 2640, Peñalolén, Santiago, Chile; Instituto Universitario de Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico (IDT), Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana, Ignacio Valdivieso 2409, San Joaquín, Santiago, Chile.
⁴ Volgograd State University, 100 University Ave., Volgograd, 400062, Russia.
⁵ Departamento de Electricidad, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana, Av. José Pedro Alessandri 1242, Ñuñoa, Santiago, Chile.
⁶ Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, 600119, India. Electronic address: murugadoss_g@yahoo.com.
⁷ School of Engineering, Lebanese American University, Byblos, Lebanon; Centre for Herbal Pharmacology and Environmental Sustainability, Chettinad Hospital and Research Institute, Chettinad Academy of Research and Education, Kelambakkam, 603103, Tamil Nadu, India. Electronic address: pugal.smile@gmail.com.

PMID: 38677409
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.119030

Abstract

Bifunctional electrocatalysts are the attractive research in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in the overall water-splitting reactions. The design and development of the cost-effective OER/HER bifunctional electrocatalysts with superior catalytic activity are still remaining as the big challenges. Herein, we have developed the CuO-ZnO nanocomposite as a bifunctional OER/HER electrocatalyst via simple chemical precipitation method. The nanocomposite was investigated for its crystalline structure, surface morphology and the functions of elements using XRD, FT-IR, SEM, TEM and XPS characterization techniques, respectively. The nanocomposite exhibited the excellent activity for the overall water-splitting in an alkaline medium. The CuO-ZnO nanocomposite showed the less onset potential of 1.4 and 0.15 V versus RHE in 1M KOH (Tafel slopes value of 0.180 and 0.400 V dec^-1) for OER and HER, respectively. Hence, the as-prepared bifunctional electrocatalyst displayed the high stability for 10 h in the water electrolysis processes.

Keywords: Bifunctional electrocatalyst; CuO-ZnO nanocomposite; HER; OER; Overall water-splitting.