Combustion-derived BaNiO3 nanoparticles as a potential bifunctional electrocatalyst for overall water splitting

Abstract

Electrochemical water electrolyser though an assuring solution for clean hydrogen production, the sluggish kinetics and high cost of existing precious metal electrocatalyst remains a barrier to its effective utilization. Herein, solution combustion route derived perovskite type barium nickelate (BaNiO<inf>3</inf>) nanoparticles were developed and studied for their bifunctional electrocatalytic properties towards overall water splitting. The unannealed BaNiO<inf>3</inf> nanoparticles exhibited the highest OER and HER activity with overpotentials 253 mV and 427 mV respectively to attain 10 mAcm−2 in 1.0 M KOH. Using unannealed BaNiO<inf>3</inf> as a bifunctional electrocatalyst in a two-electrode alkaline electrolyser, the cell was able to achieve the benchmark current density at a low cell voltage of 1.82 V. Impressively the setup's electrocatalytic performance improved 4.9% after continuous overall water splitting for 24 h at 30 mAcm−2. Therefore, BaNiO<inf>3</inf> nanoparticles can be a low-cost and efficient alternative for noble metal electrocatalysts for clean H<inf>2</inf> production. © 2022 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC