Fabrication of CNTs composites with mono and bimetallic oxides for the oxygen evolution reactions in water splitting

A cost-effective and environmentally friendly solution to the continuous energy and environmental crisis is to produce hydrogen by electrochemical water splitting. It is complicated to design multicomponent electrocatalysts rationally with uniform interfaces that show high stability, simple scalability, and cost-effectiveness to produce hydrogen by water electrolysis. Herein, we report an efficient electrocatalyst composed of Nickel Copper oxides modified carbon nanotubes (NiCuO@CNTs) to boost the evolution reaction (OER) in electrochemical water splitting. Hydrothermally rout has been followed to fabricate the nanocomposites and surface morphologies were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In addition Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and X-rays diffraction (XRD) utilized to assess the materials composition and its crystallinity, respectively. Under alkaline medium, binary-metal oxide modified CNTs (NiCuO@CNTs) exhibits an overpotential of 0.53 V and a Tafel slope of 136 mVdec⁻¹ towards OER. Charge transfer resistance (R_ct) and double layer capacitance (C_dl) have been measured via cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and their outcomes showed that the fabricated nanocomposites could be promising alternate for the benchmark catalysts (IrO₂ and RuO₂) used in the OER.