Synthesis, physical and electrochemical characterization of NiFe2O4/ZnO nanocomposite for OER application

Abstract

The wide use of conventional fuels is leading to the rise in energy crisis and environmental pollution. The hydrogen fuel can be used as alternative of conventional energy sources to overcome the problem. The hydrogen is obtained from water splitting through oxygen evolution reaction. In the present work, NiFe2O4/ZnO electrocatalyst was prepared by hydrothermal process and grown on nickel foam for OER process. The physical, morphological and elemental analysis of composite was done to execute the crystallinity, surface area and purity of prepared composite. The prepared nanocomposite has high surface area than pure samples. The chronoamperometry analysis was used to assess the enduring stability and durability of synthesized composite. The electrochemical characterization confirmed that composite has low overpotential value (174 mV) and Tafel gradient (33 mV dec−1) with high structural stability. The prepared nanocomposite easily transfers electrons to start OER process. Hence it will perform efficiently for OER and other related applications in future owing to its fine crystalline structure, bulk surface area, low Tafel and overpotential and high stability.