Facile Synthesis of Ni-MgO/CNT Nanocomposite for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Panneerselvam Mohana; Melkiyur Isacfranklin; Rathinam Yuvakkumar; Ganesan Ravi; Lakshmanan Kungumadevi; Sundaramoorthy Arunmetha; Jun Hyun Han; Sun Ig Hong

doi:10.3390/nano14030280

Facile Synthesis of Ni-MgO/CNT Nanocomposite for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2024 Jan 29;14(3):280. doi: 10.3390/nano14030280.

Authors

Panneerselvam Mohana¹, Melkiyur Isacfranklin¹, Rathinam Yuvakkumar¹, Ganesan Ravi^{1

2}, Lakshmanan Kungumadevi³, Sundaramoorthy Arunmetha⁴, Jun Hyun Han⁵, Sun Ig Hong⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, Alagappa University, Karaikudi 630003, India.
² Department of Physics, Chandigarh University, Mohali 140413, India.
³ Department of Physics, Mother Terasa Women's University, Kodaikanal 624101, India.
⁴ Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation, Guntur 522502, India.
⁵ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Republic of Korea.

Abstract

In this study, the pristine MgO, MgO/CNT and Ni-MgO/CNT nanocomposites were processed using the impregnation and chemical vapor deposition methods and analyzed for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) using the electrochemical water splitting process. Furthermore, the effect of nickel on the deposited carbon was systematically elaborated in this study. The highly conductive carbon nanotubes (CNTs) deposited on the metal surface of the Ni-MgO nanocomposite heterostructure provides a robust stability and superior electrocatalytic activity. The optimized Ni-MgO/CNT nanocomposite exhibited hierarchical, helical-shaped carbon nanotubes adorned on the surface of the Ni-MgO flakes, forming a hybrid metal-carbon network structure. The catalytic HER was carried out in a 1M alkaline KOH electrolyte, and the optimized Ni-MgO/CNT nanocomposite achieved a low (117 mV) overpotential value (ɳ) at 10 mA cm^-2 and needed a low (116 mV/dec) Tafel value, denotes the Volmer-Heyrovsky pathway. Also, the high electrochemical active surface area (ECSA) value of the Ni-MgO/CNT nanocomposite attained 515 cm², which is favorable for the generation of abundant electroactive species, and the prepared electrocatalyst durability was also performed using a chronoamperometry test for the prolonged duration of 20 h at 10 mA cm^-2 and exhibited good stability, with a 72% retention. Hence, the obtained results demonstrate that the optimized Ni-MgO/CNT nanocomposite is a highly active and cost-effective electrocatalyst for hydrogen energy production.

Keywords: chemical vapor deposition; hydrogen evolution reaction; hydrogen production; overpotential; water splitting.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the UGC-SAP, DST-FIST, DST-PURSE and RUSA grants in India and also by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant (No. 2021R1A4A1031494).