Tailoring the innovative Lu2CrMnO6 double perovskite nanostructure as an efficient electrode materials for electrochemical hydrogen storage application

Abstract

The supply and storage of energy have become one of the most important and fundamental issues for the industrial and human societies, since all human activities are dependent on energy. Among the energy storage systems, hydrogen storage has emerged as a hot topic in the energy sector. A double perovskite Lu2CrMnO6 (LCMO) nanostructure with high electroactive sites has been used, for the first time, as an active material for hydrogen storage. In order to accomplish this goal, eco-friendly LCMO nanostructures were synthesized using a green sol-gel method using a variety of amounts of beetroot juice as fuel. The crystallinity structure, composition, porosity, and morphology of the nanostructures were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), BET, and energy dispersive X-ray (EDS) techniques. The hydrogen storage performance of products was also studied using chronopotentiometry (ChP), cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and linear polarization analysis conducted in an alkaline medium (KOH 2.0 M). At a current density of 1 mA, the hydrogen storage capacity of the LCMO-10 (with 10 ml beetroot juice) was calculated to be 275 and 570 mAh/g in the first and 15th cycles, respectively, while this value for the LCMO-5 (with 5 ml beetroot juice) was calculated to be 235 and 402 mAh/g under similar conditions, respectively. The resultant indicates that the discharge capacity of LCMO-10 at 15th was 1.4 times greater than that of LCMO-5, which may be due to the special morphology of LCMO-10 with more active sites. Additionally, the discharge capacity of optimum sample (LCMO-10) was investigated using a variety of discharge currents. As a result of the study, the optimum LCMO nanostructure exhibits superior potential as electrode materials for electrochemical hydrogen storage. This study shows that LCMO-10 nanostructures exhibit excellent hydrogen sorption through the physisorption mechanism and redox process, which confirms that the double perovskite LCMO-10 nanostructure can be used for hydrogen storage.