Enhanced electrochemical oxygen generation from sillenite phase of bismuth iron oxide (Bi24Fe2O39) ultrafine particles stabilised at room temperature

Abstract

Recently, lot of research is going on in development of clean energy-based technology to address the issue of exponentially increasing energy demands. Electrochemical water splitting is a clean and efficient process for generation of H2 and O2. Water electrolysis produces hydrogen and oxygen on cathode and anode respectively as separate half-cell reactions is one of the most important clean alternative processes. This work reports synthesis of Bi24Fe2O39 ultrafine crystalline nanoparticles via facile room temperature chemical method for the first time. Bi24Fe2O39 shows a spherical morphology with an average size of 8 nm. As obtained Bi24Fe2O39 acts as an electrocatalyst for electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Electrochemical oxygen generation studies confirm the overpotential of 420 mV in 1 M KOH solution at a current density of 10 mA/cm2. Tafel slope and EIS studies give further insight of oxygen generation process. The results show that Bi24Fe2O39 exhibits low Tafel slope of 63 mV dec−1 and a very low charge transfer resistance of ∼10 Ω. This study paves a new way for future research into bismuth based sillenite structure for various energy related applications.