Self-standing bi-functional electrode for overall water electrolysis
OwnerGeeta Pandurang KHARABE, Rajith ILLATHVALAPPIL +2inventors
InventorsGeeta Pandurang KHARABE, Rajith ILLATHVALAPPIL, Sidharth BARIK, Sreekumar KURANGOT
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention relates to ternary metal(s) hydroxide [(M1-M2-Ni)](OH)2] composite supported on nickel foam (NF) having nanoflower arrays structure, which acts as a self-standing bifunctional electrocatalyst for cathode as well as anode (both electrodes) for water electrolysis/splitting. Further, the present invention provides hydrothermal process for the preparation of said bi-functional electrocatalyst. The bifunctional catalyst disclosed herein is useful in performing water electrolysis reactions to generate hydrogen and oxygen.
Claims13
1-10. (canceled)
A bifunctional electrocatalyst comprising ternary metals hydroxide composite having formula of (M1-M2-Ni)(OH)2 supported onto a support;
- wherein, the hydroxides of M1, M2 and nickel are uniformly present over the support;
- and wherein the bifunctional electrocatalyst composite has a hierarchical nanoflower morphology, wherein the bifunctional electrocatalyst is self-standing and crystalline in nature.
A one-pot hydrothermal process for preparation of bifunctional electrocatalyst as claimed in claim 1, comprising the steps of:
- i. cleaning the support with HCl, deionized water, and ethanol consecutively by bath sonication for 10-15 min followed by drying in the vacuum oven at 50-60° C. for 5-6 h to obtain a precleaned support;
- ii. dispersing precursors of M1 metal salt and M2 metal salt in deionized water by stirring for 10-25 min at 20-25° C. to obtain a solution;
- iii. transferring the solution of step (ii) and the precleaned support of step (i) into a Teflon-lined autoclave placed in oven;
- iv. performing hydrothermal treatment of step (iii) at 170-180° C. for 11-13 h in the oven containing the autoclave followed by cooling down to 25° C. to obtain a mixture;
- V. removing the Teflon-lined autoclave from the oven and then removing the material as obtained in step (iv) from the Teflon-lined autoclave, followed by washing the material three times with an ethanol-DI water mixture (1:1);
- and
- vi. drying the obtained material from step (v) in a vacuum oven for 5-6 h at 60-70° C. to obtain the bifunctional electrocatalyst.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.