Abstract
Magnetic Fe3O4 nanostructures for electrochemical water splitting and supercapacitor applications were synthesized by low temperature simple wet-chemical route. The crystal structure and morphology of as-acquired nanostructures were examined by powder X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Magnetic measurements indicate that the as-synthesized Fe3O4 nanostructures are ferromagnetic at room temperature. The synthesized nanostructures have a high-specific surface area of 268 m2/g, which affects the electrocatalytic activity of the electrode materials. The purity of the as-synthesized nanostructures was affirmed by Raman and X-ray Photoelectron studies. The electrochemical activity of the magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (MIONPs) for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and supercapacitors were investigated in alkaline medium (0.5 M KOH) versus Ag/AgCl at room temperature. The electrocatalysts show low onset potential (~0.18 V) and Tafel slope (~440 mV/dec) for HER. Additionally, the specific capacitance of MIONPs was investigated, which is to be ~135 ± 5 F/g at 5 mV/s in 1 M KOH.
Highlights
Water splitting or electrolysis of water is receiving much attention from researchers due to the diminution of fossil fuels and the increased environmental hazards on account of generating various type of by-products such as dust, smoke, soot, CO2, etc. [1]
Several alternative sources of fuels have already been proposed such as biodiesel, methanol, ethanol, hydrogen, boron, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), electricity, solar fuels, etc
The as-synthesized nanoparticles were successfully investigated by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), BET surface area analysis, magnetization study, Raman, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
Summary
Water splitting or electrolysis of water is receiving much attention from researchers due to the diminution of fossil fuels and the increased environmental hazards on account of generating various type of by-products such as dust, smoke, soot, CO2 , etc. [1]. Transition metal oxides have garnered attention for water splitting due to their fascinating electrocatalytic activity, low-cost, low toxicity, and earth abundance. They show excellent oxygen evolution reaction (OER) potential, but due to low hydrogen desorption ability, their HER reactivity is poor [22,23]. There is no report regarding the electrochemical water splitting for HER using MIONPs. Numerous chemical methods have been reported in the literature for the synthesis of various metal-oxide nanoparticles such as reverse micelle [30,31], hydrothermal [32], solvothermal [33,34], sol-gel [35], co-precipitation [36], and polymeric precursor [37,38,39] methods. The as-synthesized nanoparticles were successfully investigated by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), BET surface area analysis, magnetization study, Raman, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
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