Developing
an efficient, low-cost, and non-noble metal oxide-based
nanohybrid material for overall water splitting is a highly desirable
approach to promote clean energy harnessing and to minimize environmental
issues. Accordingly, we proposed an interfacial engineering approach
to construct layered porous graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4)-stabilized Co2SnO4 inverse spinel
nanohybrid materials as highly active bifunctional electrocatalysts
for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction
(OER) in an alkaline medium. Here, a Co2SnO4/g-C3N4 nanohybrid with a layered porous g-C3N4 stabilized cubelike inverse spinel has been
synthesized with an enhanced surface area via a simple one-pot hydrothermal
method. Besides, detailed structural and morphological characterizations
were carried out using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron
spectroscopy (XPS), field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM),
high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), Fourier
transform infrared (FT-IR), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller
(BET) analysis. Briefly, XPS analysis has revealed the existence of
a strong coupling bond at the interface between a definite proportion
of g-C3N4 nanosheets and the inverse spinel,
which act as an electron transport channel to explore the exceptional
performances for HER and OER. Compared to the Co2SnO4 inverse spinel lattice or g-C3N4 nanosheets,
the prepared Co2SnO4/g-C3N4 nanohybrid-loaded 316 SSL mesh electrode showed excellent and stable
electrocatalytic performances with very low overpotentials of 41 mV
for HER and 260 mV for OER to reach the current density of 10 mA cm–2. To understand the electrocatalytic phenomena, the
faradic efficiency was calculated for the prepared bifunctional electrocatalyst
as 96%, which effectively would favor water electrolysis. Accordingly,
the Co2SnO4/g-C3N4 nanohybrid-loaded
electrodes were constructed, and the minimum cell voltage was found
to be 1.52 V to reach the current density of 10 mA cm–2, which is comparable to the standard RuO2∥Pt/C
in two-electrode systems. Thus, the developed nanohybrid-based electrocatalyst
could be an alternative to noble metal-centered systems for highly
efficient overall water splitting.