Preparation and Electrochemical Characterisation of an Iron-Nickel-Doped Sucrose-Derived Carbon Material for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction

The development of non-precious metals electrocatalysts for renewable energy and hydrogen production has been gaining increased attention. Serpent carbon grown from a cost-effective combustion process having large pores is employed as a substrate for metal doping (Fe-Ni@SC) by a simple solvothermal method. In an alkaline medium, Fe-Ni@SC/GC split water at 1.52 V, and the Tafel slope of 63 mV dec(-1) (Fe-Ni@SC) was found to be lower than IrO2 (92 mV dec(-1)). In a three-electrode system, Fe-Ni@SC/NF splits water at 1.48 V and exhibits a small overpotential of 252 mV at 10 mA cm(-2) that is stable for 150 h with a potential loss of 4.2 %. Excellent OER performances have been displayed by the robust Fe-Ni@SC catalyst, which has sufficient kinetics to address the sluggish water oxidation. The fragmented plates morphology of Fe-Ni@SC was useful for the transportation of ions and reduced traffic congestion during the electrochemical process. The solar water electrolyser splits water at 1.55 V, which illustrates the effectiveness of an optimised electrocatalyst for the conversion of solar energy to hydrogen production. Hence, Fe-Ni@SC can be utilised to generate huge amount of hydrogen at low cost.