A facile and effective microwave-assisted route has been developed to synthesize electrochemically active pure and transition metal-doped manganese oxide nanoballs for fuel cell applications.

A graphitic carbon nitride (g-C N ) polymer matrix was embedded with AgNi alloy nanoparticles using a simple and direct in situ solid-state heat treatment method to develop a novel AgNi/g-C N photocatalyst. The characterization confirms that the AgNi alloy particles are homogeneously distributed throughout the g-C N matrix. The catalyst shows excellent photoelectrochemical activity for water splitting with a maximum photocurrent density of 1.2 mA cm , which is the highest reported for doped g-C N . Furthermore, a detailed experimental study of the photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) dye using doped g-C N showed the highest reported degradation efficiency of approximately 95 % after 90 min. The electronic conductivity increased upon incorporation of AgNi alloy nanoparticles on g-C N and the material showed efficient charge carrier separation and transfer characteristics, which are responsible for the enhanced photoelectrochemical and photocatalytic performance under visible light.

Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) nanosheets (NSs) with defect-rich and vertically aligned edges are highly advantageous for various catalytic applications. However, colloidal synthesis of defect-rich NSs with thickness variation has been a challenging task. Here, we report a colloidal synthesis of 2H-MoSe 2 NSs having a large number of defects and vertically aligned edges, where the thickness is varied by changing the amount of coordinating solvent. The Se-vacancies in these NSs have introduced defect sites which are corroborated by the presence of additional vibration modes in Raman spectra. These NSs exhibit electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction performances with a low overpotential (210-225 mV) at 10 mA cm −2 current density and a small Tafel slope (54-68 mV per decade). Moreover, these MoSe 2 NSs are also employed as counter electrodes (CEs) for the fabrication of dye sensitized solar cells via a cost-effective and simplified procedure. The power conversion efficiencies of 7.02 ± 0.18%, comparable with Pt CE (7.84 ± 0.10%) could be routinely achieved. These results demonstrate a novel synthetic strategy to prepare layered TMDs with superior catalytic applications.

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In the present work, we report a novel nickel-manganese oxide (NiMnOx) decorated hematite (α-Fe2O3) photoanode for efficient water splitting in a photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell.