Construction of Fe₂O₃ Nanoparticles Decorated for a Highly Efficient Oxygen Evolution Reaction Activity

Abstract

Fossil fuels are going out of stock as a result of population and industrial growth, and the uptake of fossil fuels has also affected the atmosphere, causing pollution and other defects. Over the past few years, researchers focused on fuels from renewable sources that are unharmful to humans and the Earth’s atmosphere. Constructing lucrative and highly competent electrocatalysts is still a challenging task in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity. In this study, we have synthesized Fe2O3 with N- and S-doped reduced graphene oxide (rGO) via the co-precipitation technique subsequent to the annealing procedure. The formation of rhombohedral phase Fe2O3 spherical nanoparticles on N- and S-doped rGO has been examined. The introduction of N- and S-doped rGO has not only reduced the agglomeration of the particles and particle size but also facilitated the electronic structure. As a result, the Fe2O3/N- and S-doped rGO nanocomposite requires only 250 mV to attain 10 mA/cm2 and the Tafel slope value of 115 mV/dec in an alkaline medium. With the benefit of the presence of N- and S-doped graphene sheets, charge-transfer resistance of Fe2O3/N and S rGO was lower in 24.9 Ω and also exhibited a large electrochemical surface area of 110 cm2. Therefore, our findings suggest that iron oxide decorated in a carbon matrix could efficiently enhance the OER activity to accomplish alkaline water splitting.

A Review of Nanostructured Transition Metal Phosphide-Driven Electrocatalytic Oxygen Evolution Reaction

“…Metal oxides based on earth-abundant first-row transition elements are explored as alternative oxygen evolution catalysts (OECs) in place of traditional electrocatalysts composed of precious-metal oxides (RuO 2 and IrO 2 ) . Here, high-pitched catalytic activity and significantly long durability of these OECs under a range of operating conditions have been the main focus for enabling broader adoption of energy storage via water splitting. , …”