Ultrasound assisted synthesis of highly active nanoflower-like CoMoS4 electrocatalyst for oxygen and hydrogen evolution reactions

• Published in: Ultrasonics sonochemistry 2021-04, Vol.72, p.105454-105454, Article 105454
• Main Authors: Yadav, A.A., Hunge, Y.M., Kang, Seok-Won
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: CoMoS4; Hydrogen evolution; Original; Overall water splitting; Oxygen evolution
• ISSN: 1350-4177; 1873-2828
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ultsonch.2020.105454

•CoMoS4/NF electrocatalyst engineered using ultrasonic treatment with hydrothermal synthesis for overall water splitting.•Nanoflower-like CoMoS4/NF electrocatalyst exhibits superior performance for overall water splitting in 1 M KOH.•CoMoS4/NF follows Volmer-Heyrovsky mechanism along with Heyrovsky step as rate determine step for HER reaction. Rapid technological development requires sustainable, pure, and clean energy systems, such as hydrogen energy. It is difficult to fabricate efficient, highly active, and inexpensive electrocatalysts for the overall water splitting reaction: the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The present research work deals with a simple hydrothermal synthesis route assisted with ultrasound that was used to fabricate a 3D nanoflower-like porous CoMoS4 electrocatalyst. A symmetric electrolyzer cell was fabricated using a CoMoS4 electrode as both the anode and cathode, with a cell voltage of 1.51 V, to obtain a current density of 10 mA/cm2. Low overpotentials were observed for the CoMoS4 electrode (250 mV for OER and 141 mV for HER) at a current density of 10 mA/cm2.