Investigation of nanostructured iron oxides as anodic material for water splitting

We explore the possibility of using an iron-based anodic material (α-hematite) synthesized with a hierarchical 3D urchin-like morphology, as an OER catalyst. The electrodes are prepared by pulsed laser deposition followed by thermal annealing leading to the hierarchical 3D urchin-like morphology. The effect of the deposition parameter on the catalyst phase and morphology are investigated by microRaman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy, while the electrode metrics are determined by voltammetric methods and Tafel analysis. We observe that the material is highly electroactive towards the OER, with performance in-line with that of noble-metal based state-of-the-art catalysts.