In-Situ Grown Mixed-Linker Based Redox-Active Cd (II)-Metal Organic Framework on Nickel Foam: A Self-Supported...

The production of hydrogen fuel via water electrolysis has emerged as one of the energy conversion technique to alleviate the global energy scarcity. The search for non-noble metal based active electrocatalyst to accelerate water electrolysis process has become one of the challenging task. Here, a suitable and facile one-step solvothermal method has been followed for the growth of Cd based pristine metal organic frameworks (MOFs) onto nickel foam (NF). The binder-free three-dimensional (3D) Cd (II)-BPFA-MOF/NF electrode exhibits an excellent performance toward urea-assisted water splitting. The electrocatalyst Cd (II)-BPFA-MOF/NF showed an overpotential of 148 and 420 mV at benchmark current density of 10 mA cm^-2 in 1 M KOH medium for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), respectively. At the same time, Cd (II)-BPFA-MOF/NF exhibit only 1.59 V for urea oxidation reaction (UOR) at benchmark current density in 1 M KOH and 0.33 M urea medium. The Cd (II)-BPFA-MOF/NF || Cd (II)-BPFA-MOF/NF bifunctional electrodes demands only 1.54 V potential to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm^-2 toward urea-assisted overall water splitting reaction (UOWS) with remerkable long-term stability. Therefore, this work represents application of a waste to wealth approach toward Cd-based sustainable electrocatalyst for renewable hydrogen production.