Screening of agroindustry residues for their usage as oxygen evolution reaction catalysts
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: The Oxygen Evolution Reaction (OER) is the limiting step of the water splitting process for the attainment of valuable hydrogen. A green and economic catalyst is hereby synthesized to reduce the OER overpotential. For the first time, a set of representative agroindustry residues were used and subjected to pyrolytic and hydrothermal treatments, fitting them into circular economy. Hydrothermally treated potato peels (PP-HC), particularly, reached 10, 50 and 100 mA/cm 2 at overpotentials of 353, 408 and 431 mV, respectively. The novel material showed good electron-transfer and small Tafel slope (52.2±0.2 mV/dec) that is explained by the presence of electronic rich bonds as confirmed by physical-chemical and electrochemical characterization. PP-HC showed an astonishingly high stability for 90 h or 8000 cyclic voltammetries, with the hydrochar suffering only slight modifications, as measured by FTIR and XPS. This innovative study opens a path to efficient and environmentally friendly green hydrogen. • The thermal treatment of agroindustry wastes favoured their electrocatalytic activity. • Significant activity differences were found depending on the raw material used. • Hydrochar of potato peels acted as a competitive alkaline OER catalyst. • Potato peels hydrochar showed high stability during 30 h and 8000 CVs. • Characterization demonstrated the significant changes on the catalyst during OER.
Institution: Universidade de Vigo
Language: English
Field: Energy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,250
OpenAlex ID: W4403626228