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The search for an environment friendly, sustainable and cost-effective catalyst used in electrochemical water splitting via hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) has generated considerable interest in renewable energy research worldwide. In...

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In the current communication, we report the role of sodium do-decyl sulphate (SDS) as the corrosion inhibition enhancer for 2-thioureidobenzoxazole (BOT) on mild steel (MS) in 2M Hydrochloric acid electrolyte. Though, 2-thioureidobenzoxazole shows limited inhibition due of the presence of oxygen atom, addition of small quantity of SDS enhances the inhibition by 10-fold. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, Tafel measurements and weight loss studies were used in the current work. The variation of temperature on the inhibition efficiency of SDS+BOT on MS surface was explored. The Gibbs free energy of adsorption values showed that inhibition process is spontaneous. Langmuir adsorption was prevalent and the morphological characterization was carried out using scanning electron microscope which indicated the role of SDS as a versatile performance enhancer for BOT. This combination, act as an anodic mixed type inhibitor.

Hydrogen energy production through water electrolysis is envisaged as one of the most promising, sustainable, and viable alternate sources to cater to the incessant demands of renewable energy storage. Germane to our effort in this field, we report easily synthesizable and very cost-effective isoperthiocyanic acid (IPA) molecular complexes as electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) under acidic and alkaline conditions. The Pd(II)IPA, Co(II)IPA, and Ni(II)IPA complexes were synthesized and were evaluated for HER and OER applications. These complexes when embedded onto graphitized carbon cloth (GrCC) exhibited a significant enhancement in the HER activity in contrast to their pristine counterparts. The hybrid electrocatalyst Pd(II)IPA among the three showed an extremely low overpotential of 94.1 mV to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm –2 , while Co(II)IPA and Ni(II)IPA complexes showed overpotentials of 367 and 394 mV, respectively, to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm –2 . These complexes on carbon cloth showed decreased charge transfer resistance compared to that of pristine metal complexes. The enhanced catalytic activity of the complexes on carbon cloth can be attributed to the porous and conducting nature of the graphitized carbon cloth. For OER activity, the Pd(II)IPA complex showed an excellent performance with an overpotential value of 210 mV, while Co(II)IPA and Ni(II)IPA exhibited overpotentials of 400 and 270 mV, respectively, to drive a current density of 10 mA cm –2 in 0.1 M KOH. This work further widens the scope and application of molecular complexes in combination with an excellent carbon support for renewable energy storage applications.