Phyto-inspired and scalable approach for the synthesis of PdO–2Mn2O3: a nano-material for application in water splitting electro-catalysis

A modified co-precipitation method has been used for the synthesis of a PdO–2Mn2O3 nanocomposite as an efficient electrode material for the electro-catalytic oxygen evolution (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Palladium acetate and manganese acetate in molar ratio 1 : 4 were dissolved in water, and 10 ml of an aqueous solution of phyto-compounds was slowly added until completion of precipitation. The filtered and dried precipitates were then calcined at 450 °C to obtain a blackish brown colored mixture of PdO–2Mn2O3 nanocomposite. These particles were analyzed by ultra violet visible spectrophotometry (UV-vis), infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), powder X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) for crystallinity, optical properties, and compositional and morphological makeup. Using Tauc's plot, the direct band gap (3.18 eV) was calculated from the absorption spectra. The average crystallite sizes, as calculated from the XRD, were found to be 15 and 14.55 nm for PdO and Mn2O3, respectively. A slurry of the phyto-fabricated PdO–2Mn2O3 powder was deposited on Ni-foam and tested for electro-catalytic water splitting studies in 1 M KOH solution. The electrode showed excellent OER and HER performance with low over-potential (0.35 V and 121 mV) and Tafel slopes of 115 mV dec−1 and 219 mV dec−1, respectively. The outcomes obtained from this study provide a direction for the fabrication of a cost-effective mixed metal oxide based electro-catalyst via an environmentally benign synthesis approach for the generation of clean energy.