An Efficient and Durable Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Production Based on Earth-Abundant Oxide-Graphene Composite

LaFeO3-graphene nanostructured composite was synthesized for the first time by a simple, green, low-cost and one-pot method using inexpensive instrumentation. The approach is based on using graphene oxide (GO) as an effective oxidizing agent fuel and microwave irradiation for reaction initiation. A well-defined perovskite structure was obtained without further calcination and the direct reduction of GO to reduced graphene oxide (RGO) was achieved. Hazardous or reducing agents were not used in this procedure. The successful preparation is confirmed by different structural, surface and spectral analyses. The obtained LaFeO3-RGO was used as an electrode material for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in both acidic and basic media. The proposed electrode showed relatively higher kinetic parameters compared to LaFeO3 prepared by microwave-assisted citrate method. LaFeO3-RGO showed a current density two orders of magnitude higher than LaFeO3. The overpotential required to reach 10 mA/cm(2) is 130 mV for LaFeO3-RGO compared to 490 mV in case of LaFeO3 prepared by microwave-assisted citrate method.