Reusing waste plastic bottle to reduce MoO3 into carbon-supported MoO2 nanoparticles for efficient water electrolysis

Abstract

One of the efficient ways to produce hydrogen through electrolysis of water is oxygen evolution reaction (OER). OER being an anodic process requires highly efficient, sustainable and economic electrocatalysts with long term stability. In this work, plastic water bottle is utilized as a carbon source and a reducing agent to reduce MoO3 to carbon supported MoO2 (MoO2@C) as an efficient electrocatalyst for OER. The conductive carbon layers encapsulating the MoO2 nanoparticles enhances the charge transfer rate and improves the long-term stability. The defect rich supporting carbon exhibits high specific surface area and improves the electrochemical activity of MoO2 nanoparticles. The sample requires only an overpotential of 516 mV (vs. Ag/AgCl) to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm-2 and a low Tafel slope of 84.4 mV dec−1. It displays excellent electrochemical stability up to 2000 cyclic voltammetry (CV) cycles and revealed excellent stability up to 24 h. The reported method provides an efficient way to reuse waste plastic bottle to as carbon source as well as reducing agent produce MoO2@C electrocatalyst at an industrial scale.