Bimetallic copper nickel sulfide electrocatalyst by one step chemical bath deposition for efficient and stable overall water splitting applications

Abstract

Transition metal sulfides have been intensively investigated as an effective catalyst for overall water splitting application due to their inexorable bifunctional oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity. However, the chalcogenides are oxidised during the OER process and hence limit the stability of the electrocatalyst. The synthesized materials should have a higher oxidation state corresponding to the active species in order to improve the stability. In this study, we have employed a one-step chemical bath deposition (CBD) route to synthesis bimetallic copper nickel sulfide (CuNiS) electrocatalyst. We have accomplished a superior OER electrocatalytic activity with a lower overpotential of 337 mV at 10 mA/cm2 current density and a small Tafel slope of 43 mV/dec. Also, we have achieved an excellent HER activity with a very low overpotential of 99 mV at 10 mA/cm2 and a Tafel slope of 63 mV/dec. The constructed electrolyzer attained a lower cell voltage of only 1.55 V to reach the current density of 10 mA/cm2. The stability test carried at a high current density of 200 mA/cm2 for 50 h showed less than 5% increase in Ni3+ active species at the surface ensure the stable performance nature. Thus, this work provides a promising methodology for the synthesis of bimetallic sulfides for enhanced electrocatalytic water splitting with exceptional reliability.