Sirichandana B, Silviya R, Bhat S Venkataprasad, Patel Nainesh, Hegde Gurumurthy
Department of Chemistry, Christ University Hosur Road Bengaluru 560029 India.
Centre for Advanced Research and Development (CARD), Christ University Hosur Road Bengaluru 560029 India
Nanoscale Adv. 2025 May 12;7(13):4056-4066. doi: 10.1039/d5na00213c. eCollection 2025 Jun 24.
Developing efficient and low-cost bifunctional electrocatalysts for overall water splitting in order to reduce the future energy crisis is crucial and challenging. Herein, a facile two-step fabrication pyrolysis and chemical reduction was used for the synthesis of biomass-derived carbon-based electrocatalyst (MT) from mulberry bark and its subsequent modification with cobalt phospho-boride (MT/CoPB) for efficient bifunctional electrocatalysis in alkaline media. The effect of / ratios and carbon-to-metal ratios on electrocatalytic performance of HER was investigated. Notably, the optimized MT/CoPB catalyst (/ = 5, C : M = 2 : 1) exhibited a lower overpotential of -86 mV for HER and 310 mV for OER to reach the current density of 10 mA cm. The robust electrocatalytic performance of MT/CoPB towards the HER and OER was attributed to the combined effect of carbon and CoPB. Notably, it achieved a low cell voltage of 1.59 V to reach a current density of 10 mA cm, also maintaining reliable long-term stability. Characterization studies revealed that the enhanced performance was due to the amorphous structure of the catalyst, high electrochemical surface area, and efficient charge transfer. This work demonstrates the potential of biomass-derived carbon-based materials in the development of cost-effective and durable electrocatalysts for water splitting and green hydrogen production.
开发高效且低成本的双功能电催化剂用于全水解以缓解未来的能源危机至关重要且具有挑战性。在此，采用一种简便的两步法（热解和化学还原）从桑树皮合成生物质衍生的碳基电催化剂（MT），并随后用硼化钴磷（MT/CoPB）对其进行改性，以在碱性介质中实现高效双功能电催化。研究了/比例和碳与金属比例对析氢反应（HER）电催化性能的影响。值得注意的是，优化后的MT/CoPB催化剂（/ = 5，C : M = 2 : 1）在析氢反应中达到10 mA cm电流密度时过电位较低，为 -86 mV，在析氧反应（OER）中为310 mV。MT/CoPB对析氢反应和析氧反应具有强大的电催化性能归因于碳和CoPB的协同作用。值得注意的是，它在达到10 mA cm电流密度时实现了1.59 V的低电池电压，并且还保持了可靠的长期稳定性。表征研究表明，性能增强归因于催化剂的非晶结构、高电化学表面积和有效的电荷转移。这项工作证明了生物质衍生的碳基材料在开发用于水分解和绿色制氢的经济高效且耐用的电催化剂方面的潜力。
