Synthesis of Cu@CuFe2O4 nanocomposite and its application as an efficient catalyst for the production of oxygen

Abstract Surfactant free One-pot synthesis of Cu@CuFe2O4 nanocomposite was demonstrated via hydrothermal technique and its application in generation of oxygen in oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Various analytical techniques such as powder XRD, TEM, HRTEM, EDS, SEM/EDAX and XPS were used to characterize the synthesized nanocomposite. TEM and SEM image shows the morphology of Cu@CuFe2O4 nanocomposite which is spherical in shape and dimensions of diameter is in the range of 88 – 150 nm and 42–114.28 nm, respectively. The peaks corresponding to Cu, Fe and O in Cu@CuFe2O4 nanocomposite were observed in XPS data as well as in EDAX analysis. The electrochemical analysis was conducted for OER by cyclic voltammetry, linear sweep, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Current density as high as 16.5 mA.cm−2 at over-potential 1.4 V (vs Ag/AgCl) indicated excellent oxygen generation. The results revealed that the synthesized nanocomposite is an efficient catalyst for production of oxygen.