Excellent Bifunctional Water Electrolysis Activities of <i>α</i>‐MoO<sub>3</sub>/AC Nanocomposites
Sankar Sekar, Ji-Seop Yun, Seoyeon Park, Deuk Young Kim, Youngmin Lee, Sejoon Lee
Abstract
Electrocatalytic water splitting is a cost‐effective and environment‐friendly technique for producing oxygen and hydrogen through the oxygen/hydrogen evolution reaction (OER/HER). Developing the highly active and stable electrocatalyst, particularly for bifunctional water electrolysis ( i.e. , both OER and HER), is still a formidable challenge. Herein, we demonstrated the enhanced bifunctional water splitting activities by utilizing the molybdenum trioxide‐anchored activated carbon (MoO 3 /AC) nanocomposites. The MoO 3 /AC samples were fabricated by the ultrasonication method using sol‐gel synthesized MoO 3 and biomass‐derived AC, and they displayed a nanostreusel‐like morphology with spherical MoO 3 nanoparticle‐decorated AC nanosheets. For the water electrolysis test, the MoO 3 /AC nanocomposites exhibited the excellent bifunctional electrocatalytic OER and HER performances with low overpotential and small Tafel slope values. Through analyzing the material characteristics and the electrochemical properties of MoO 3 /AC, it was found that the superb bifunctional OER‐HER activities were attributed to the synergistic effects from the hybridization of highly conductive AC and electrochemically active α ‐MoO 3 . The results pronounce that the MoO 3 /AC nanocomposites possess an aptitude as a superb bifunctional OER/HER electrocatalyst for high‐performance water electrolysis.