| Polyaniline-engineered zinc sulphide nanocomposite as a highly efficient electrocatalyst for the oxygen evolution process |
| Asma M. Alenad1, Sofia Fatima2, Usman Khalid2, Nigarish Bano3, Abdul Ghafoor Abid3, Sumaira Manzoor3, Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Farid4, Mouslim Messali5, Huda A. Alzahrani6, Taha Abdel Mohaymen Taha7 |
1Chemistry Department, College of Science , Jouf University , P.O. Box 2014 , Sakaka , Saudi Arabia
2Institute of Chemical and Environmental Engineering , Khwaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology , Rahim yar Khan 64200 , Pakistan
3Institute of Chemical Sciences , Bahauddin Zakariya University , Multan 60800 , Pakistan
4Department of Physics , Government Graduate College Taunsa Sharif , Taunsa Sharif 32100 , Pakistan
5Department of Chemistry, College of Science , Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University , P.O. Box 90950 , 11623 Riyadh , Saudi Arabia
6Department of Physics, College of Science , Taif University , P.O. Box 11099 , 21944 Taif , Saudi Arabia
7Physics Department, College of Science , Jouf University , P.O. Box 2014 , Sakaka , Saudi Arabia |
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Received: December 27, 2022; Revised: April 6, 2023 Accepted: April 18, 2023. Published online: June 7, 2023. |
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| ABSTRACT |
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Hydrogen is the ideal future fuel, since it is clean, saves energy, and is abundant in nature. Though there are several methods for producing hydrogen, only a few of them are environmentally friendly. To employ water electrolysis to make hydrogen and solve the energy shortage problem, highly active electrocatalysts must be created. Zinc sulphide/polyaniline (ZnS/PANI) nanocomposite was successfully produced using a straightforward two-step coprecipitation and polymerization procedure. Diff erent analyses were used to characterize the fabricated materials. The fi ndings show that the ZnS/PANI nanocomposite's morphology has a consistent porous shape, and the electrical structure of the active sites determines how well catalysts can make contact with the intermediates. Multiple attempts have been made to create the most aff ordable, functional electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reactions (OER). However, clean energy production from such materials is sluggish. In comparison to pure PANI nanofi bers (143.14 m2 g-1 and 0.4827 nm) and ZnS nanostructures (249.85 m2 g-1 and 0.4224 nm), the composite ZnS/PANI displays a greater Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area around 372.65 m2 g-1 along with nanoporous size of 0.393 nm due to the interaction, which provides distinctive features in contrast to ZnS and PANI. Synergistically, composite ZnS/PANI indicates lower overpotentials of 132 mV for oxygen evolution performance at 10 mA cm-2. An improved OER activity is observed by composite ZnS/PANIs as high current density, lower overpotential and reduced Tafel value of 53 mV dec-1. This catalyst also exhibited a signifi cant double-layer capacitance and a large electrochemically active surface area. ZnS/PANI is a magnifi cent electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution. |
| Key words:
Conductive polymer · ZnS/PANI · Coprecipitation · Oxygen evolution process |
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