Water
splitting using renewable energy resources is an economic
and green approach that is immensely enviable for the production of
high-purity hydrogen fuel to resolve the currently alarming energy
and environmental crisis. One of the effective routes to produce green
fuel with the help of an integrated solar system is to develop a cost-effective,
robust, and bifunctional electrocatalyst by complete water splitting.
Herein, we report a superhydrophilic layered leaflike Sn4P3 on a graphene–carbon nanotube matrix which shows
outstanding electrochemical performance in terms of low overpotential
(hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), 62 mV@10 mA/cm2, and
oxygen evolution reaction (OER), 169 mV@20 mA/cm2). The
outstanding stability of HER at least for 15 days at a high applied
current density of 400 mA/cm2 with a minimum loss of potential
(1%) in acid medium infers its potential compatibility toward the
industrial sector. Theoretical calculations indicate that the decoration
of Sn4P3 on carbon nanotubes modulates the electronic
structure by creating a higher density of state near Fermi energy.
The catalyst also reveals an admirable overall water splitting performance
by generating a low cell voltage of 1.482 V@10 mA/cm2 with
a stability of at least 65 h without obvious degradation of potential
in 1 M KOH. It exhibited unassisted solar energy-driven water splitting
when coupled with a silicon solar cell by extracting a high stable
photocurrent density of 8.89 mA/cm2 at least for 90 h with
100% retention that demonstrates a high solar-to-hydrogen conversion
efficiency of ∼10.82%. The catalyst unveils a footprint for
pure renewable fuel production toward carbon-free future green energy
innovation.
Two dimensional (2D) chalcogenide monolayers have diversified applications in optoelectronics, piezotronics, sensor and in energy harvesting. Group-IV Tellurene monolayer is one such emerging material in the 2D family for its...
The possibilities to resolve the exponential increase in energy demand using water splitting have also triggered huge worldwide attention towards the oxygen evolution reaction using an efficient, earth-abundant and low-cost electrocatalyst.
Oxygen and hydrogen evolutions are the two fundamental processes involved in the electrocatalytic water splitting. Two dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) and graphene based materials have been regarded as...
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