Research Updates

Electrocatalytic Activity Enhancement Using Graphene-Metal Oxide Nanocomposites for the Ultra Low Level Detection of Biomolecules Teena Joseph1, Jasmine Thomas1, Tony Thomas2 and Nygil Thomas1 Published 10 February 2022 • © 2022 The Electrochemical Society ("ECS"). Published on behalf of ECS by IOP Publishing Limited

BaZrO3 based non enzymatic single component single step ceramic electrochemical sensor for the picomolar detection of dopamine

Probing the electrocatalytic activity of hierarchically mesoporous M-Co3O4 (M = Ni, Zn, and Mn) with branched pattern for oxygen evolution reaction

The development of robust, highly efficient, inexpensive electrocatalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is very necessary to minimize the overpotential of water splitting and boosts up the practicality of related energy systems. Here in nanoparticles of cobalt doped NiO of the composition Ni1-xCoxO (X = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5) have been successively synthesized via single step solution combustion method (SCM). The time and energy saving SCM is a self-sustained combustion reaction which helps to control the morphology and size of the nanomaterials. Doping of oxides and construction of hetero junctions are some of the distinctive advantages of SCM. During the combustion process large amount of gas evolution will take place and produce nanomaterial with large specific surface area and porosity, which provide some exceptional behavior to the resulting nanomaterials. The results of structural characterization show that SCM is a functional strategy for the synthesis of pure single-phase Co doped NiO nanoparticles. Among the series of Co doped NiO, Ni0.6Co0.4O showed drastically enhanced OER activity with much lower overpotential of 370 mV and a lower Tafel slope of 69 mV/dec and display good stability in alkaline media. The OER performance of Co doped NiO is higher because of the improved electronic conductivity caused by the partial substitution of Ni2+ by Co2+ in the NiO matrix. In addition, as the Co concentration increases the porous nature of NiO also increases up to x = 0.4 after that aggregation of nanoparticles takes place.The porous nature of material helps to expand the contact area of electrode and electrolyte and favors more active sites for OER. The strategy used for doping Co into NiO proposes a new way to develop electrochemically active material for OER.