Synthesis and investigation of catalytic HER/OER performances of Al2SSe in alkaline/acidic media and water detoxification behavior

Abstract

The increasing demand for renewable energy sources and the presence of organic pollutants in water are pressing issues that require sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions. Electrocatalytic water splitting, and water detoxification offer promising approaches to address these challenges, but current electrocatalysts often suffer from low efficiency and pH-specificity, which limits their practical application. In this study, we synthesized low-cost, effective aluminum sulfoselenide (Al2SSe) nanorods as electro- and photocatalysts for water splitting that works in wide range of pH and water detoxification. Characterization of the Al2SSe nanorods using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques confirmed their shape and crystallinity. Subsequent testing of the Al2SSe catalyst in three different electrolytes revealed excellent performance in both light and dark conditions for both the cathodic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER). In particular, the Al2SSe catalyst displayed low overpotentials and small tafel slopes of 32 mV/dec, 42 mV/dec, 49 mV/dec, and 91 mV/dec for the OER and 31.4 mV/dec, 34 mV/dec, 45 mV/dec and 56 mV/dec for the HER in 1 M potassium hydroxide (KOH), 0.1 M sulfuric acid (H2SO4), 0.1 M perchloric acid (HClO4) and 1 M phosphate buffer solution (PBS) electrolytes, respectively, under light conditions. The Al2SSe photocatalyst was also found to be highly effective at degrading 89% of Congo Red. These findings suggest that post-transition metal chalcogenides such as Al2SSe may have significant potential for use in electro- and photocatalytic applications.