Abstract:
Process of water-splitting to produce hydrogen has limited application at commercialscale. As substantial overpotential is required at anode for the Oxygen Evolution
Reaction (OER) and at cathode for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER). CdS as
semiconductor possess remarkable chemical stability for redox reactions, high
absorption capacity, diverse morphologies, and negative conduction band edge. Photo
and electrocatalytic applications of CdS and its hybrids include low cost and green
water-splitting for H2 generation. We present an interface engineering strategy for
constructing an effective bifunctional electrode material for the water splitting process
by using CdS-NRs@PBNPs heterostructures.
These bifunctional electrocatalyst have demonstrated improved water splitting
performance, for both HER and OER processes. For HER, the optimized hybrid CdSNRs@PBNPs (1:1) shows significantly improved catalytic performance with low
overpotentials of 126 mV and 181 mV, respectively, at current densities of 10 mA.cm-2
and 20 mA.cm-2
. Similarly, for OER it displays an overpotential of 250 mV and 316
mV at current densities of 10 mA.cm-2
and 20 mA.cm-2
. Furthermore, the CdSNRs@PBNPs(1:1) has demonstrated long-standing stability of 20 hours. The hybrid's
enhanced OER and HER activity is attributable to a synergetic impact between CdSNRs and PBNPs, as well as the active site modification due to the presence of
Cadmium and iron in the hybrid
