NiO and magnetic CuFe2O4-based composite electrocatalyst for enhanced oxygen evolution reaction

Abstract

The biggest concerns confronting the modern world are the depletion of nonrenewable energy sources and rising global temperatures. The use of O2 as an alternative energy source offers a potential answer to these problems. Low-cost electrocatalysts are growing approach for electrocatalytic water splitting, such as oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Oxygen evolution reactions are tremendously well-catalyzed by inexpensive transition metal oxide-based nanostructures. Here, we present a new composite NiO/CuFe2O4 nanostructure and further investigate its potential for electrocatalytic OER applications. Microscopic and spectroscopic methods such as FE-SEM, XRD, XPS, and FTIR were utilized to explore the morphology and structural characteristics of the electrocatalyst. The composite NiO/CuFe2O4 catalyst demonstrates excellent electrochemical OER accomplishment with the overpotential of 297�mV for an alkaline medium to acquire the current density of 10�mA/cm2 and a low Tafel slope of 63�mV/dec?1 to confirm the faster reaction of the composite catalyst. The synergism between the metal ions Ni, Cu, and Fe makes the composite catalyst more efficient in its catalytic activity so; the as-prepared structure demonstrates higher electrocatalytic OER execution with cyclic stability and durability than its pristine constituents. The results show that the NiO/CuFe2O4 composite has the potential to act as an electrocatalyst for the splitting of water. � 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Societ� Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.