Development of CoFe2O4 decorated on polyaniline for optimizing oxygen evolution process in alkaline medium

Abstract

The development of inexpensive catalysts that perform extraordinarily well in the electrochemical oxygen evolution process (OER) is necessary for the quick development of renewable energy sources. To obtain a great effect of intrinsic activity and the exposure of interfacial active sites at a greater density is often recommended when designing active and effective catalysts for OER via water splitting to attain clean energy in the form of hydrogen. In present work, cobalt ferrite (CoFe₂O₄) and polyaniline (PANI) are combined to design cluster-based catalysts with robust efficiency. The CoFe₂O₄ nanoflakes in this instance are uniformly adorned with PANI to provide an electronic effect on the CoFe₂O₄ nanoflakes. Thus, the designed interface needs an overpotential of 151 mV for OER, which is steady for up to 80 h of testing. The exceptional activity and longstanding durability are a result of the higher revelation of active sites, and faster kinetic reactions. Furthermore, the resultant material shows a small 105 mV/dec Tafel slope, offering the outstanding performance. Hence, this work proposes a novel method for designing nanostructures and for quickly producing oxide heterostructures based on transition metals, which are useful for future electrochemical applications.

Graphical abstract