Oxygen Electrocatalysis : Study
Researchers from the Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS), an autonomous institute under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), have developed a novel iron-doped catalyst aimed at improving oxygen-related electrocatalytic reactions.
- Oxygen electrocatalysis is a fundamental process in clean energy technologies such as:
- Water splitting for hydrogen production,
- Generation of clean fuels,
- Synthesis of Hydrogen Peroxide (H₂O₂).
- These technologies face major challenges like slow reaction kinetics, high energy consumption, and high material costs due to reliance on precious metals like platinum (Pt) and ruthenium Ru).
- After selenium (Se) incorporation, the researchers created two main catalyst variants: NixFe₁−xSe₂–NC, Ni₃−xFexSe₄–NC
- The most efficient variant, NixFe₁−xSe₂–NC@400, showed outstanding bifunctional catalytic performance for:
- Oxygen Evolution Reaction (OER) – production of oxygen gas,
- Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR) – conversion of oxygen into useful chemicals like hydrogen peroxide.
- For OER, this catalyst exhibited lower overpotential and high durability over 70 hours, surpassing conventional ruthenium-based catalysts.
- For ORR, especially for H₂O₂ production, it outperformed platinum-based catalysts in terms of reaction speed, efficiency, and stability.
