Ishtiaq Sumaya, Hussain Ghulam, Zafar Hafiza Komal, Liaquat Rabia, Rasul Shahid, Al-Kahtani Abdullah A, Nafady Ayman, Sohail Manzar
Department of Chemistry, School of Natural Sciences, National University of Sciences and Technology, H-12, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan.
US-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Energy, National University of Sciences and Technology, H-12, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan.
ACS Omega. 2024 Dec 26;10(1):520-528. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.4c07016. eCollection 2025 Jan 14.
Implementing a hydrogen economy on an industrial scale poses challenges, particularly in developing cost-effective and stable catalysts for water electrolysis. This study explores the catalytic potential of selenium nanoparticles (Se-NPs) synthesized via a simple chemical bath deposition method for electrochemical and photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. The successful fabrication of Se-NPs on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) electrodes has been confirmed using a wide range of analytical tools like X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. Importantly, electrochemical measurements revealed superior electrocatalytic activity of the modified Se-NPs/FTO electrodes, with low overpotential (220 mV at 10 mA cm) and Tafel slope (90.13 mV dec), indicating faster reaction kinetics and reduced energy inputs for oxygen evolution reaction. Furthermore, the Se-NPs/FTO electrode was employed for PEC water splitting in NaS electrolyte, showing a notable enhancement in photocurrent density with a difference of 700 μA cm between light and dark conditions at 1.5 V vs RHE, demonstrating efficient light-driven hydrogen production. The overall findings of this work establish that the proposed Se-NPs/FTO electrodes are promising composites for both electrochemical and PEC performance, thereby providing insights into developing cost-effective catalysts for large-scale water splitting.
在工业规模上实现氢经济面临挑战，特别是在开发用于水电解的具有成本效益且稳定的催化剂方面。本研究探索了通过简单化学浴沉积法合成的硒纳米颗粒（Se-NPs）用于电化学和光电化学（PEC）水分解的催化潜力。使用多种分析工具，如X射线衍射、能量色散X射线光谱和扫描电子显微镜，已证实成功在氟掺杂氧化锡（FTO）电极上制备了Se-NPs。重要的是，电化学测量显示修饰后的Se-NPs/FTO电极具有优异的电催化活性，过电位低（10 mA cm时为220 mV）和塔菲尔斜率（90.13 mV dec），表明析氧反应的反应动力学更快且能量输入减少。此外，Se-NPs/FTO电极用于NaS电解质中的PEC水分解，在1.5 V vs RHE下，光照和黑暗条件下的光电流密度有显著增强，差值为700 μA cm，证明了高效的光驱动制氢。这项工作的总体发现表明，所提出的Se-NPs/FTO电极对于电化学和PEC性能都是有前途的复合材料，从而为开发用于大规模水分解的具有成本效益的催化剂提供了见解。
