Onion-Ring-like Carbon and Nitrogen from ZIF-8 on TiO2/Fe2O3 Nanostructure for Overall Electrochemical Water Splitting

S V Prabhakar Vattikuti; K C Devarayapalli; Nanda Kumar Reddy Nallabala; Thi Nhung Nguyen; Nam Nguyen Dang; Jaesool Shim

doi:10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c01497

Onion-Ring-like Carbon and Nitrogen from ZIF-8 on TiO₂/Fe₂O₃ Nanostructure for Overall Electrochemical Water Splitting

J Phys Chem Lett. 2021 Jul 1;12(25):5909-5918. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c01497. Epub 2021 Jun 21.

Authors

S V Prabhakar Vattikuti¹, K C Devarayapalli¹, Nanda Kumar Reddy Nallabala², Thi Nhung Nguyen³, Nam Nguyen Dang^{4

5}, Jaesool Shim¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Mechanical Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan 38541, Republic of Korea.
² Department of Physics, Madanapalle Institute of Technology and Science, Madanapalle 517 325, India.
³ Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education, 01 Vo Van Ngan, Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City 700000, Vietnam.
⁴ Future Materials & Devices Lab., Institute of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, Duy Tan University, Ho Chi Minh City 700000, Vietnam.
⁵ The Faculty of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Duy Tan University, Da Nang 550000, Vietnam.

PMID: 34152758
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c01497

Abstract

The carbon and nitrogen derived from ZIF-8 embedded in TiO₂/Fe₂O₃ (i.e., C,N-ZIF/TiFe) nanostructures exhibit superior electrocatalytic performance toward oxygen evolution reactions (OER), hydrogen evolution reactions (HER), and overall H₂O splitting. The results showed that the C,N-ZIF/TiFe nanostructure was the best catalyst in comparison to ZIF/TiFe and TiFe nanostructures toward HER and OER. These results revealed that combining the highly active carbon and nitrogen from ZIF-8 with a TiO₂/Fe₂O₃ semiconductor enriched the overall H₂O splitting. A possible OER mechanism is attributed to some groups that support the surface active site of the catalyst and adsorbent intermediate species. Finally, this inexpensive electrocatalyst was synthesized without noble metals and showed superior electrocatalytic activity and great stability with the potential to achieve ground-breaking and novel applications in fuel cells.