High-efficiency sustainable energy driven alkaline/seawater electrolysis using a novel hetero-structured non-noble bimetal telluride nanorods

Abstract

The development of non-noble, economical, and efficient electrocatalysts for water electrolysis will be inevitable for the upcoming green hydrogen economy. In consideration of this, we developed non-noble dual transition metal telluride nanorods through a facile single step hydrothermal method. The optimized CoMnTe2-1 nanorods requires a minimum overpotential of about 120 mV to reach a current density of 10 mA cm−2 in 1.0 M KOH towards the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Additionally, we evaluated the theoretical coordination calculations and investigated mechanistic HER pathways using density functional theory calculations. Furthermore, the fabricated water splitting device with CoMnTe2-1 anode displays a cell voltage of 1.60 V and 1.64 V to attain a current density of 10 mA cm−2 in alkaline and alkaline/seawater electrolytes, respectively. As a prototype, we also utilized renewable heat and mechanical energy to drive a self-powered water electrolysis device. This provides a promising path forward in designing an active and efficient bimetal telluride based electrocatalysts for green hydrogen production via alkaline/seawater electrolysis.