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

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

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.

Original languageEnglish
Article number119030
JournalEnvironmental Research
Volume252
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jul 2024
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Bifunctional electrocatalyst
  • CuO-ZnO nanocomposite
  • HER
  • OER
  • Overall water-splitting

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