CeNS develops new catalyst for sustainable oxygen electrocatalysis
A new catalyst has been designed by the researchers from the Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences, (CeNS) in Bengaluru which apart from making oxygen-related catalytic reactions faster is also affordable and environment friendly.
According to the Department of Science and Technology, electrocatalysis involving oxygen underpins numerous clean energy technologies, such as splitting water to produce hydrogen, creating clean fuels, and manufacturing chemicals like hydrogen peroxide.
However, these technologies typically face challenges like slow reaction speeds, high energy demands, and high costs due to the limited availability and expense of the precious metals involved.
Besides, traditionally, catalysts used in these processes rely on expensive precious metals like platinum or ruthenium making the processes costly.
The CeNS researchers have developed a new catalyst that uses nickel selenide enhanced by precisely adding a small amount of iron (Fe) which has the potential of not only reducing costs significantly, but also improving the performance.
The team of scientists from CeNS began with a special material known as a metal-organic framework (MOF) which are porous, crystalline structures useful for chemical reactions but have limited electrical conductivity.
'The electronic structure of the MOF has been modulated by Fe doping to improve catalytic active sites. To improve conductivity, researchers converted MOFs into carbon-rich materials through a heating process known as pyrolysis, enhancing their ability to conduct electricity effectively,' the department said.
It added that after pyrolysis, researchers introduced selenium, creating two highly effective catalysts known as NixFe1−xSe₂–NC and Ni₃−xFexSe₄–NC.
'Iron doping significantly improved the catalyst's electronic interactions, creating more active sites for reactions and optimizing how reaction intermediates bind to the catalyst surface. These enhancements made the catalyst exceptionally efficient for two key processes: the Oxygen Evolution Reaction (OER), which produces oxygen, and the Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR), which converts oxygen into valuable chemicals,' it added.
Extensive testing by the researchers showed that the catalyst, NixFe1−xSe₂–NC@400, achieved impressive performance
'In ORR tests for hydrogen peroxide production, this catalyst also exceeded the performance of industry-standard platinum-based catalysts, providing better reaction speeds and higher efficiency,' it said.
The department said that detailed analysis revealed that iron doping changed the catalyst's electronic structure in a beneficial way, increasing active sites and facilitating better electron transport.
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