Stable Bifunctional Electrocatalysts Research Articles

Atomic layer deposition-triggered hierarchical core/shell stable bifunctional electrocatalysts for overall water splitting

A synergistic strategy of interface engineering and surface modification is efficient to construct a promising bifunctional electrocatalyst for enhanced electrocatalytic water splitting.

(Fe,Co)/N‐Doped Multi‐Walled Carbon Nanotubes as Efficient Bifunctional Electrocatalysts for Rechargeable Zinc‐Air Batteries

AbstractThe design and fabrication of efficient, less costly, and stable bifunctional oxygen electrode electrocatalysts is crucial for large‐scale production of rechargeable zinc‐air batteries. Herein, electrocatalytically active, hybrid materials composed of Fe−Co alloy nanoparticles‐embedded N‐doped carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are synthesized from Fe/Co‐polyporphyrin‐CNTs via pyrolysis. The materials serve as highly effective bifunctional oxygen electrode catalysts for zinc‐air batteries. In particular, the one synthesized at 700 °C, named CNTs@(Fe,Co)PP‐700, shows a very good activity for both the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in an alkaline solution. This material catalyzes ORR with a limiting current density of 5.11 mA cm−2 and a half‐wave potential of 0.86 V vs RHE. It also catalyzes OER with 10 mA cm−2 at a small overpotential of 360 mV. Besides, it operates well as an air cathode in a home‐made rechargeable zinc‐air battery, with a small voltage gap of 0.71 V at 2 mA cm−2, while remaining stable in hundreds of charge‐discharge cycles for >83 h. Its performance in a zinc‐air battery is better than that of a benchmark air‐electrode containing noble metals, Pt/C+RuO2.

Engineering heterointerfaces coupled with oxygen vacancies in lanthanum–based hollow microspheres for synergistically enhanced oxygen electrocatalysis

3Co–LaMOH|O V @NC hollow microsphere is achieved through pyrolysis with spontaneous cobalt doping and it can be applied as high–active and stable bifunctional oxygen electrocatalyst for rechargeable ZAB. The development of high–efficiency and low–cost bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts is critical to enlarge application of zinc–air batteries (ZABs). However, it still remains challenges due to their uncontrollable factor at atomic level during the catalysts preparation, which requires the precise regulation of active sites and structure engineering to accelerate the reaction kinetics for both oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Herein, a novel Co–doped mixed lanthanum oxide and hydroxide heterostructure (termed as Co–LaMOH|O V @NC) was synthesized by pyrolysis of La–MOF–NH 2 with spontaneous cobalt doping. Synergistic coupling of its hollow structure, doping effect and abundant oxygen vacancies creates more active sites and leads to higher electroconductivity, which contribute to the better performance. As employed as a bifunctional oxygen electrocatalyst, the resulting 3Co–LaMOH|O V @NC exhibits superior electrocatalytic activity for both ORR and OER. In assembled ZAB, it also demonstrates an excellent power density of 110.5 mW cm −2 , high specific capacity of 810 mAh g Zn −1 , and good stability over 100 h than those of Pt/C + RuO 2 . Density functional theory (DFT) calculation reveals that the heterointerfaces coupled with oxygen vacancies lead to an enhanced charge state and electronic structure, which may optimize the conductivity, charge transfer, and the reaction process of catalysts. This study provides a new strategy for designing highly efficient bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts based on rare earth oxide and hydroxides heterointerface.

Oxygen vacancies engineering by coordinating oxygen-buffering CeO2 with CoO nanorods as efficient bifunctional oxygen electrode electrocatalyst

A novel electrocatalyst, CeO 2 decorated CoO x rod-like hybrid supported onto holey reduced graphene (CoO x /CeO 2 /RGO) composite was fabricated and served as an efficient ORR/OER bifunctional material. CeO 2 decorated CoO x rod-like hybrid, supported onto holey reduced graphene (CoO x /CeO 2 /RGO) composite, was fabricated via a surfactant-assisted route. Its corresponding electrocatalytic performance towards oxygen reduction/evolution reactions (ORR and OER) was systematically investigated in alkaline electrolyte. Structural, morphological and compositional studies revealed changes in electronic and surface properties when CeO 2 was introduced as an oxygen buffer material. The oxygen vacancies effectively enhanced the electrocatalytic activity, while the synergistic effect of co-catalyst CeO 2 , CoO x active-centers, and defective graphene with many voids facilitate the charge/mass transfer, making CoO x /CeO 2 /RGO an efficient and stable bifunctional electrocatalyst for OER/ORR with Δ E = 0.76 V (Δ E = E 10 mA cm -2 , OER – E 1/2, ORR ). This parameter is 70 mV and 270 mV lower than CoO x /RGO and the benchmark Pt/C, respectively. In addition, the OER/ORR bifunctionality of CoO x /CeO 2 /RGO composite outperforms that of Pt/C catalyst in a H 2 -O 2 micro fuel cell platform.

Constructing bifunctional Co/MoC@N-C catalyst via an in-situ encapsulation strategy for efficient oxygen electrocatalysis

The large-scale application of Zn-air battery requires the development of efficient, low-cost, and stable bifunctional electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Herein, an electrocatalyst of a Co/MoC-nanoparticles embedded N-doped carbon (Co/[email protected]) was prepared via the in-situ encapsulation of Co2(CO)8 and Mo(CO)6 in ZIF-8 using ball-milling, followed by pyrolysis under an Ar atmosphere. When used as a bifunctional electrocatalyst, the as-prepared Co/[email protected] showed an ORR half-wave potential of 0.824 V in an alkaline medium and an overpotential of only 290 mV for the OER at 10 mA cm−2, which was 70 mV lower than RuO2. The Co/[email protected] was also evaluated as a cathode in a solid-state Zn-air battery and delivered a higher peak discharge power density and better cycling stability (over 1600 min) than Pt/C-RuO2. Most importantly, our work provides a new strategy to prepare bifunctional catalysts and promotes their applications in the energy conversion field.

Active and Stable Bifunctional Oxygen Electrocatalysts and Catalyst Layers for Unitized Regenerative Fuel Cells

Proton exchange membrane unitized regenerative fuel cells (PEM-URFCs) that can function in both fuel cell and electrolysis modes provide potential weight and cost advantages over discrete systems; however, improved catalysts and catalyst layers are needed to improve performance and stability. PEM-URFCs require bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts that facilitate the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and significant challenges remain to increase catalyst activity, reduce precious metal loading, and obtain long-term stability over the wide potential voltage ranges that occur switching between fuel cell and electrolyzer modes. We have recently shown that bimetallic nanoframes, formed from thermal treatment of noble-metal decorated nanosheets, provide bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts with significantly higher activity compared with monometallic structures, evaluated using a rotating disk electrode configuration.1 The nanostructured bimetallic alloys utilize noble metal-non-noble transition metal interactions to alter the surface electronic structure, and the unsupported nanostructure provides a carbon-free matrix with three-dimensional accessibility to the catalytically active sites. In addition to design of the catalytically active site, the catalyst layer has important influences on mass transfer and flooding within PEM-URFCs. From our preliminary evaluations, the oxygen catalyst nanostructure, catalyst loading, and catalyst layer composition have significant effects on the performance of PEM-URFC membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) that operate in both fuel cell and electrolyzer modes. References Godínez-Salomón, F.; Albiter, L.; Mendoza-Cruz, R.; Rhodes, C.P. Bimetallic Two-dimensional Nanoframes: High Activity Acidic Bifunctional Oxygen Reduction and Evolution Electrocatalysts, ACS Applied Energy Materials , 2020, 3, 2404-2421. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsaem.9b02051

Ultralow ruthenium loading Cobalt-molybdenum binary alloy as highly efficient and super-stable electrocatalyst for water splitting

Searching for earth-abundant, highly efficient, and stable bifunctional electrocatalysts for water splitting is critical for the further development of sustainable energy generation, yet it remains a great challenge. Herein, a facile electrodeposition strategy followed by wet-chemistry treatment is reported for the fabrication of the ultralow amount loading of ruthenium (Ru) on CoMo alloy supported on carbon fiber paper (CFP) substrate (Ru-CoMo/CFP). Benefiting from the unique nano-architectures and synergetic effect of loading Ru material and CoMo alloy, the optimized Ru-CoMo/CFP exhibits excellent electrocatalytic activity and favourable stability toward electrochemical water splitting. The as-prepared Ru-CoMo/CFP composite exhibits a current density of 10 mA·cm−2 at overpotentials of 44 and 237 mV for catalyzing hydrogen and oxygen evolution reaction (HER/OER) in alkaline medium, respectively. The as-synthetized Ru-CoMo/CFP electrode is also demonstrated to function as anode and cathode, simultaneously, only needs a cell voltage of 1.54 V to yield 10 mA·cm−2, outperforming the state-of-the-art RuO2||Pt/C couple (1.56 V). This work demonstrates substantial improvement in the design of high-efficiency electrodes for water electrolysis.

Preparation of Ni3Fe2@NC/CC Integrated Electrode and Its Application in Zinc-Air Battery

Reasonable design and development of a low-cost and high-efficiency bifunctional electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is essential for promoting the development of Zinc-air battery technology. Herein, we obtained an integrated catalytic electrode, NiFe nanoparticles supported on nitrogen-doped carbon (NC) directly grown on the carbon cloth (designated as Ni3Fe2@NC/CC), by pyrolysis of bimetallic NiFe metal-organic framework (MOF) precursor. There is a synergistic effect between nickel and iron component, which enhances the bifunctional catalytic activity. In addition, the underlying carbon cloth is conducive to the efficient electron transfer and also benefits the uniform loading of catalytically active materials. Thus, the integrated electrode shows good OER/ORR dual-functional catalytic performance, and the OER overpotential is much lower than that of the traditional drop-coating electrode and precious metal catalyst (IrO2). Moreover, the Ni3Fe2@NC/CC integrated electrode used in zinc-air batteries shows good flexibility and cycle stability. Our findings provide a new avenue for the development of efficient and stable bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts.

Three-dimensional heterostructures of Co@CuxS core–shell nanowire arrays as efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts for overall water splitting

Developing low-cost, efficient and stable bifunctional electrocatalysts for overall water splitting is very necessary to meet the demand for green H2 fuel in the near future. In this work, we have developed a novel hierarchical heterostructure of CuxS nanosheets/Co nanowire arrays supported on three-dimensional Ni foam (Co@CuxS NWs/3D-NF) as highly active bifunctional electrocatalysts for both the hydrogen (HER) and oxygen (OER) evolution reactions. Inheriting from the advantage of core-shell heterostructure, mesoporous characteristic and chemical coupling effect between Co core and CuxS shell layer, the as-synthesized Co@CuxS NWs/3D-NF exhibits high catalytic activity toward HER and OER with requiring small overpotential of 104.6 and 292.2 mV to reach current density of 10 mA cm−2, respectively. Furthermore, assembled Co@CuxS NWs/3D-NF-based electrolyzer shows remarkable performance with a low operating voltage of 1.55 V at 10 mA cm−2 and high long-term stability, which offers a favorable evidence for potential of our catalyst in practical application.

Toward more efficient and stable bifunctional electrocatalysts for oxygen electrodes using FeCo2O4/carbon nanofiber prepared by electrospinning

In the present work, an iron-cobaltite spinel supported on N-containing carbon nanofibers (CNFs) shows a remarkable activity for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline solution, with an overpotential (η10mAcm-2) of 130 mV, one of the lowest values in literature so far. This material is also an excellent catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), what leads to an extraordinary reversible behavior (ΔE = EOER – EORR=480 mV), being an economic and easy scalable candidate for the air electrode of metal-air batteries or for electrochemical devices where the oxygen evolution or the oxygen reduction is involved. In the present research, Fe partially replaces Co atoms in the Co3O4 spinel structure to obtain a more economically feasible material, leading to a FeCo2O4/CNF, by using an electrospinning preparation procedure previously adopted for the Co3O4/CNF synthesis. The substitution of iron in the Co3O4/CNF spinel entails an outstanding onset potential toward the OER of 1.36 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode, which is 120 mV lower compared with the pure spinel (Co3O4/CNF). An optimal distribution of the FeCo2O4 particles on the CNF surface, with 3-nm-size particles, allows exposing abundant active sites, mainly Co3+ and Fe3+, responsible for the enhanced activity toward the OER, and Fe-Nx moieties and N-sites (N-graphitic/pyridinic), more active for the ORR. Besides, FeCo2O4/CNF shows a well-developed porous structure, favoring the mass transfer, a parameter particularly important for the ORR. To assess the stability of the catalysts for rechargeable alkaline metal-air batteries, cycling operation and chronopotentiometric experiments are carried out, showing a stable potential for 24 h.

Assembled hollow spheres with CoFe alloyed nanocrystals encapsulated in N, P-doped carbon nanovesicles: An ultra-stable bifunctional oxygen catalyst for rechargeable Zn-air battery

Exploring efficient, cost-effectiveness and stable bifunctional electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is critical for rechargeable metal-air batteries. Herein, CoFe alloyed nanocrystals encapsulated in N, P-codoped carbon nanovesicles assembled hollow spheres (CoFe@NP-CHS) are prepared by pyrolyzing the homogenous mixture of vitamin B12 (VB12), melamine and Fe2O3 at 700 °C. The resultant CoFe@NP-CHS demonstrates distinct activity for ORR and OER in the alkaline media. More impressively, the as-developed Zn-air battery displays excellent performance with enhanced open-circuit voltage of 1.516 V, enlarged peak power density of 123.1 mW cm−2, and remarkable cycling stability at 10 mA cm−2 (40 h), outperforming the mixture of commercial Pt/C + RuO2 catalysts. This work provides a promising avenue to fabricate efficient, low cost and stable electrocatalyst for practical viability in electrochemical energy devices.

Iridium nanorods as a robust and stable bifunctional electrocatalyst for pH-universal water splitting

Bifunctional electrocatalyst for efficiently catalyzing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in pH-universal electrolyte is desirable for the industrial overall water splitting technology. In this work, we have synthesized Iridium nanorods (Ir-NR/C) by annealing Ir nanoparticles at 300 °C requiring comparatively low overpotentials of 290 mV, 296 mV and 305 mV to achieve current density of 10 mA cm−2 for OER catalysis in 0.5 M H2SO4, 1 M KOH and 1 M PBS with a low Ir loading of 14 μg cm−2, respectively, resulting in ∼30 times higher mass activity compared to commercial IrO2. Moreover, stable OER performance is recorded due to the formed thin amorphous Iridium oxides (IrOx) layer protecting the underneath metallic Ir from direct electrochemical dissolution and coalescences. Besides, IrOx layer negligibly affects the HER performance in acidic medium; but promotes the HER catalytic activities in alkaline and neutral electrolytes since the Volmer step (water dissociation) is efficiently catalyzed by IrOx layer enabling a 6-fold better mass activity than benchmarked Pt/C. Ir-NR/C performs superior stability during HER catalysis in a wide pH range ascribed the prevention of Ir migration and aggregation. Finally, the assembled water splitting device by Ir-NR/C shows robust activity and exceptional stability than benchmarked Pt/C-IrO2 in pH-universal electrolytes.

Thiourea-Zeolitic imidazolate Framework-67 assembly derived Co–CoO nanoparticles encapsulated in N, S Codoped open carbon shell as bifunctional oxygen electrocatalyst for rechargeable flexible solid Zn–Air batteries

A high active and stable bifunctional oxygen electrocatalyst of Co–CoO multiphase nanoparticles (NPs) encapsulated in N,S co-doped carbon shells (Co–CoO@NSC) is designed and constructed by in-situ S doping of ZIF-67 with thiourea and subsequent pyrolysis, which not only generates small Co–CoO NPs due to the steric effect, but also creates more active sites and defects. First-principles simulations reveal that in-situ S-doping optimizes the charge distribution of Co–N4 sites and Co–O–C bonds, which reduces the formation energy of *OOH and then improves the ability of oxygen adsorption and hydrogen peroxide desorption. The optimized Co–CoO@NSC exhibits excellent catalytic activity with the overpotential of only 279 mV at 10 mA cm−2 for OER and the half-wave potential of 0.89 V for ORR, outperforming that of most recent reported bifunctional electrocatalysts. Our Co–CoO@NSC catalyst indicates the ΔE (ΔE = Ej=10 (OER) − E1/2 (ORR)) of 0.68 V, which is smaller than the Pt/C + RuO2 system. Flexible solid-state Zn-air battery with Co–CoO@NSC-5 as air-electrode possesses a high power density (87.7 mW cm−2) as well as good bending flexibility. The simple synthesis method proposed in our paper is beneficial for inspiring the development for high active and stable bifunctional non-noble metal electrocatalysts in next-generation flexible electronic devices.

Bifunctional electrocatalysts based on hierarchical graphene/iron hybrid architectures branched by N-doped CNT

A noble metal-free, highly active and stable bifunctional electrocatalyst with high activity and stability is needed to replace existing precious ones for electrochemical energy conversion and storage systems, such as fuel cells and metal-air batteries. Herein, we report hierarchical steam-activated reduced graphene oxide (srGO)/Fe hybrid architectures branched by nitrogen-doped carbon nanotube (N-CNT) for bifunctional oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts. Through the adequate choice of ferrocene precursor and microwave method, the CNT branches, the active iron phase, and N-doping are accomplished simultaneously to construct a bifunctional hybrid electrocatalyst. The Fe2O3/N-CNT@srGO hybrid architecture achieves an ORR onset potential of 0.72 V, a mass activity of 605.30 mA·mgactive⁻1, an OER onset potential of 1.63 V, and a Tafel slope of 61 mV·dec⁻1, which are much higher compared to those of the Fe2O3/CNT@srGO, Fe2O3@N-srGO, and Fe2O3@N-CNT catalysts. These results indicate the enhancement of bifunctional catalytic activity due to hierarchical porous structure, CNT branches, and N-doping.

Rational design of hollow core-double shells hybrid nanoboxes and nanopipes composed of hierarchical Cu-Ni-Co selenides anchored on nitrogen‐doped carbon skeletons as efficient and stable bifunctional electrocatalysts for overall water splitting

It is of prime importance to develop efficient nonprecious noble-metal-free water splitting bifunctional electrocatalysts for both H2 and O2 evolution reactions (HER and OER), which remains a grand challenge. However, the design of hollow nanostructured based on di- and tri-metal selenides, particularly non-spherical hollow nanostructures, is scarcely reported. Herein, for the first time, novel tri-metal selenides based on hollow Cu0.4Ni0.3Co0.3Se2 mesoporous nanosheet double shell were successfully designed on hollow N-doped carbon nanoboxes (Cu0.4Ni0.3Co0.3Se2@N-C n-box) and nanopipes (Cu0.4Ni0.3Co0.3Se2@N-C n-pipe). The hollow N-C n-box and N-C n- pipe skeletons were obtained from the related Fe2O3 nanocubes and nanorods templates that have prepared with completely different morphologies via only a minor change in synthesis step. Remarkably, benefiting from the special electronic structure engineering and unique hollow hierarchical design with high surface areas, open channels for effective gas releasing, fast electron/mass transport, the resulting advanced electrocatalysts provide outstanding OER activity as well as desirable HER performance in the alkaline medium. Moreover, an overall water splitting device is assembled using two symmetrical Cu0.4Ni0.3Co0.3Se2@N-C n-box electrodes as anode and cathode, which can deliver a current density of 10 mA cm−2 at a cell voltage as low as 1.53 V. More significantly, in addition to extraordinary operational stability of the electrolyzer, it can achieve high current density of 100 mA cm−2 with only cell voltage of 1.79 V, respectively, which are very useful for practical application. This work offers a rational strategy for the structure engineering of advanced hollow hybrid nanostructures as a nonprecious noble-metal-free water splitting bifunctional electrocatalyst, which can push forward the development of high efficient and low cost H2 production.

Recent advances in rational design of efficient electrocatalyst for full water splitting across all pH conditions

Abstract

Integration of Cobalt Metal–Organic Frameworks into an Interpenetrated Prussian Blue Analogue to Derive Dual Metal–Organic Framework-Assisted Cobalt Iron Derivatives for Enhancing Electrochemical Total Water Splitting

It is important to design a highly efficient, cost-effective, and stable bifunctional electrocatalyst for the overall water splitting process to produce both oxygen and hydrogen, which is considere...

Enhancing the Hydrogen and Oxygen Evolution Reaction Efficiency of Amine Functionalized MOF NH2-UiO-66 via Incorporation of CuO Nanoparticles

Development of highly efficient and stable bi-functional electrocatalyst towards both hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) by engaging the earth abundant precursors has attracted much research attention. In this study, a highly efficient, durable and stable amine functionalized MOF based bi-functional electrocatalyst CuO@NH2-UiO-66 has been facilely synthesized via in-situ incorporation of pre-synthesized CuO nanoparticles into amine functionalized Zr-MOF NH2-UiO-66. It is observed that CuO@NH2-UiO-66 exhibits excellent bi-functional electrocatalytic activity towards HER as well as OER and delivers the benchmark of 10 mA cm−2 current density at just 166 and 283 mV overpotential, respectively, which is better than several previously, reported Cu-based, different transition metals and MOF based HER and OER catalysts. It also exhibits lower Tafel slope value 87 and 113 mV dec−1 towards HER and OER, respectively which indicates faster and better charge transfer during catalytic activity. CuO@NH2-UiO-66 exhibits significant stability and generates constant current density upto 6000 s during water electrolysis experiments. Furthermore, SEM and P-XRD techniques are used to investigate the stability of working electrode after the electrocatalytic studies and it is observed that CuO@NH2-UiO-66 maintains its integrity and chemical structure, after many hours of electrocatalytic activity. This study encourages the development of more earth abundant transition metals and MOFs based electrocatalysts for efficient electrochemical studies.

Self-Catalyzed Growth of Co-N-C Nanobrushes for Efficient Rechargeable Zn-Air Batteries.

Highly efficient and stable bifunctional electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction and evolution are essential for aqueous rechargeable Zn-air batteries, which require highly active sites as well as delicate structural design for increasing effective active sites and facilitating mass/electron transfer. Herein, a scalable and facile self-catalyzed growth strategy is developed to integrate highly active Co-N-C sites with 3D brush-like nanostructure, achieving Co-N-C nanobrushes with Co,N-codoped carbon nanotube branches grown on Co,N-codoped nanoparticle assembled nanowire backbones. Systematic investigations suggest that nanobrushes deliver significantly improved electrocatalytic activity compared with nanowire or nanotube counterparts and the longer nanotube branches give the better performance. Benefiting from the increase of accessible highly active sites and enhanced mass transfer and electron transportation, the present Co-N-C nanobrush exhibits superior electrocatalytic activity and durability when used as a bifunctional oxygen catalyst. It enables a rechargeable Zn-air battery with a high peak power density of 246 mW cm-2 and excellent cycling stability. These results suggest that the reported synthetic strategy may open up possibilities for exploring efficient electrocatalysts for diverse applications.

FeCoSe2 Nanoparticles Embedded in g-C3N4: A Highly Active and Stable bifunctional electrocatalyst for overall water splitting

To investigate cost affordable and robust HER and OER catalysts with significant low overpotentials, we have successfully embedded FeCoSe2 spheres on smooth surfaces of graphitic carbon nitride that demonstrated high stability and electrocatalytic activity for H2 production. We systematically analyzed the composition and morphology of FexCo1−xSe2/g-C3N4 and attributed the remarkable electrochemical performance of the catalyst to its unique structure. Fe0.2Co0.8Se2/g-C3N4 showed a superior HER activity, with quite low overpotential value (83 mV at −20 mA cm−2 in 0.5 M H2SO4) and a current density of −3.24, −7.84, −14.80, −30.12 mA cm−2 at 0 V (vs RHE) in Dulbecco’s Phosphate-Buffered Saline (DPBS), artificial sea water (ASW), 0.5 M H2SO4 and 1 M KOH, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, these are the highest reported current densities at this low potential value, showing intrinsic catalytic activity of the synthesized material. Also, the catalyst was found to deliver a high and stable current density of −1000 mA cm−2 at an overpotential of just 317 mV. Moreover, the synthesized catalyst delivered a constant current density of −30 mA cm−2 for 24 h without any noticeable change in potential at −0.2 V. These attributes confer our synthesized catalyst to be used for renewable fuel production and applications.