Hydrothermally synthesized rGO based FeSe nanocomposite as electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction

Highly productive catalysts are necessary in oxygen evolution reaction (OER) to lower overpotential and enhance sluggish kinetics of the reaction. In this work, we present an effective OER electrocatalyst, i.e. composite of FeSe with reduced graphene oxide (FeSe/rGO) fabricated via hydrothermal method. Its main challenges include low electron conductivity and inadequate active site exposure. Meanwhile, the reduced graphene oxide (rGO) composite improves the conductivity, which raises OER activity and provides large electrochemical surface area. Different physical techniques were used to analyze the composite, according to BET surface area of FeSe/rGO was (201 cm3 g-1). To assess electrochemical characteristics of composite electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) cyclic voltammetry (CV), linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and chronoamperometry was utilized. In comparison to benchmark of commercial RuO2, the FeSe/rGO catalyst exhibits a reduced overpotential (194 mV) and minimal Tafel slope (31 mV dec−1). FeSe/rGO exhibits exceptional stability and long-term durability to be used for OER. This work not only show low overpotential value of FeSe/rGO nanocomposite, but it also introduces a novel method for producing composite materials that are inexpensive and perform well and can be utilized in different future applications.