Electrodeposited Organic-Inorganic Nanohybrid as Robust Bifunctional Electrocatalyst for Water Splitting

Rational engineering of novel nanohybrid materials for sustainable and efficient energy conversion has gained extensive research interest. Cross-linked nanosheets of organic-inorganic nanohybrids (BSeF/Ni(OH)₂) were fabricated by one-step reductive electrosynthesis and subsequently applied for electrocatalytic water electrolysis. The organic-inorganic nanohybrids consist of benzo[2,1,3]selenadiazole-5-carbonyl phenylalanine (BSeF) cross-linked with nickel ions (Ni-BSeF) and nickel hydroxides (Ni(OH)₂), which provide abundant active sites and feasible charge transfer at the electrocatalytic interface. The resulting electrodeposited nanohybrid BSeF/Ni(OH)₂ exhibits bifunctional electrocatalytic performance with 240 and 401 mV of overpotential at +100 and -100 mA cm^-2 for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), respectively. The BSeF/Ni(OH)₂ offers a longer electrocatalytic activity of 20 h for OER and HER at applied high current densities of +400 and -200 mA cm^-2. Coupled with the high OER and HER activity, the two-electrode-based system of BSeF/Ni(OH)₂ shows a low cell potential of 1.54 V at 10 mA cm^-2. The electrocatalytic performance of Ni-BSeF and Ni(OH)₂-based organic-inorganic nanohybrids provides an efficient way to develop a nanohybrid-based catalytic system for energy conversion.