Design of a Ternary G‐C 3 N 4 /Ag 3 PO 4 /Cu
Reena Saini, Farha Naaz, Sadaf Jamal Gilani, Umar FarooqABSTRACT
In this study a hybrid ternary g‐C 3 N 4 /Ag 3 PO 4 /Cu 2 O composite material was developed using co‐precipitation and calcination approach. The formation of composite was successfully confirmed by x‐ray diffraction analysis. Structural investigations including FESEM, TEM, and XPS also confirmed successful integration of all the three components in the hybrid composite. HRTEM demonstrated the presence of lattice fringes corresponding to all the three components thus confirming successful synthesis of composite material. Similar observations were found from FESEM results. BET surface area analysis revealed enhanced surface area of 74.52 cm 2 /gm in a composite material. Electrochemical OER investigation revealed significant enhancement in OER current density of 24.5 mA cm − 2 in a composite based electrode as compared to the single pure components. The composite sample show a low onset potential of 1.27 V, low Tafel slope of 110.19 mV/decay and an overpotential (η 10 ) of 220 mV at 10 mA/cm 2 versus SHE. The enhanced OER performance of a composite sample was attributed to the synergistic coupling effect among different components thus showing fast charge transfer, low charge recombination as demonstrated by PL analysis and enhanced ECSA essential for OER reaction. This study highlights the possible application of as developed low cost composite for OER application.