CuTe supported on graphitic carbon nitride nanocomposite as an effective electrocatalyst for oxidation of water in basic media

Abstract

For the purpose of using water electrolysis to yield hydrogen and to solve this issue of energy shortage, the highly active electrocatalysts for water (H2O) oxidation must be developed. For this purpose, the potential of copper-based nanomaterials electrocatalysts are completely investigated due to its good conductivity. In this study, we account the hydrothermal synthesis of novel hierarchical CuTe-gCN nanocomposite, and numerous characterization techniques are utilized to check the crystal structure, morphology, textual properties and oxidation states as well. On the other hand, the electrocatalytic performance and durability for OER in basic conditions are confirmed by different electrochemical testing. Furthermore, among all the CuTe-gCN nano-catalyst have exceptional electrocatalytic performance, like, a less overpotential around 277 mV, that is less than 312 and 326 mV for CuTe and gCN, respectively to get a current density (Cd) around 10 mAcm−2. On the other hand, it is also showing results almost similar to RuO2 having overpotential of 269 mV as well. In addition, the as prepared CuTe-gCN nanohybrid shows an impressively smaller Tafel value of 53 mVdec-1 to show the fast electron transfer process. Hence, the remarkable results are because of large surface area, accessible mesoporous structure, the remarkable electrical conductivity of gCN shows synergistic effect with CuTe was responsible for high catalytic performance, and may be useful for many other applications in future.