Abstract:
The world is in search of greatly efficacious catalytically active materials to produce ad
store sustainable fuels, i.e., H2 gas. The continuous depletion of fossil fuels and the
associated environmental pollution is causing serious concerns to scientists in the energy
field to design alternative fuel-producing ways to fulfill global energy demand. The
reproducibility, sustainability, cost-effectiveness, environment-friendly, and easy-to-store
are the few qualities of alternative fuels. The zero-carbon emission with lesser cost and
renewability of H2 gas is thought to be the best way of storing energy in the form of a
chemical bond. The H2 generation reaction needs catalysts for its successful completion.
The recent advancement in this field involves the utilization of pnictides and chalcogenides
for electrocatalysis and photoelectrocatalysis. Herein, the research project consists of the
synthesis of nickel sulfide-based materials for electrocatalysis and photoelectrocatalysis to
break water into its constituents. The synthesis methods employed are the chemical bath
deposition (CBD) method, hydrothermal (HT) synthesis, and solvothermal (ST) synthesis.
The material characterization was done by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron
microscopy (SEM), electron dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), UV-Visible spectroscopy,
Raman spectroscopy, and infra-red (IR) spectroscopy. The catalytic samples were
optimized for reaction conditions and found to be efficient and stable for electrochemical
and photoelectrochemical water splitting. Hence, the as-fabricated catalysts can be
employed on a greater scale to check their industrial implementation leading to the
enhanced production of renewable hydrogen for the fulfillment of global energy demand.
