Fabrication of Hybrid Catalyst ZnO Nanorod/α-Fe2O3 Composites for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction
by
Kasimayan Uma 1, Elavarasan Muniranthinam 2, Siewhui Chong 3
, Thomas C.-K Yang 2 and Ja-Hon Lin 1,*
Kasimayan Uma 1, Elavarasan Muniranthinam 2, Siewhui Chong 3, Thomas C.-K Yang 2 and Ja-Hon Lin 1,*
1
Department of Electro-Optical Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology, No.1, Section 3, Chung-Hsiao East Road, Taipei 106, Taiwan
2
Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, National Taipei University of Technology, No.1, Section 3, Chung-Hsiao East Road, Taipei 106, Taiwan
3
Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Broga Road, Semenyih 43500, Malaysia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Crystals 2020, 10(5), 356; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst10050356
Received: 26 March 2020 / Revised: 26 April 2020 / Accepted: 28 April 2020 / Published: 30 April 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanomaterials for Energy and Recycling)
This report presents the synthesis of ZnO nanorod/α-Fe2O3 composites by the hydrothermal method with different weight percentages of α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles. The as-synthesized nanorod composites were characterized by different techniques, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). From our results, it was found that the ZnO/α-Fe2O3 (3 wt%) nanorod composites exhibit a higher hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity when compared to other composites. The synergetic effect between ZnO and (3 wt%) of α-Fe2O3 nanocomposites resulted in a low onset potential of −125 mV, which can effectively produce more H2 than pure ZnO. The H2 production rate over the composite of ZnO/α-Fe2O3 (3 wt%) clearly shows a significant improvement in the photocatalytic activity in the heterojunction of the ZnO nanorods and α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles on nickel foam.
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Keywords:
hydrogen evolution; nanocomposites; nickel foam; nanorods
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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Uma, K.; Muniranthinam, E.; Chong, S.; Yang, T. .-K.; Lin, J.-H. Fabrication of Hybrid Catalyst ZnO Nanorod/α-Fe2O3 Composites for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction. Crystals 2020, 10, 356.
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