g-C3N4-modulated CdS-V2O5/g-C3N4 nanosheets as efficient alkaline OER and HER electrocatalyst for water-splitting

Tauseef Munawar*, Ambreen Bashir, Faisal Iqbal, Muhammad Rafaqat, Changqing Guo, Mohammad Zhiani, Chenglin Zhao, Yongfeng Tong, Shoukat Alim Khan, Muammer Koc, Chang Feng Yan

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Developing low-cost and high-active electrocatalysts for generating renewable H2 fuel and O2 evolution is essential for green hydrogen energy. We have prepared CdS-V2O5/g-C3N4 by facile co-precipitation method, in which the g-C3N4 is made composite with bimetallic CdS-V2O5. The TEM image shows that the core@branch structure of CdS-V2O5 within a thin/cloudy g-C3N4 nanosheet mainly originates with oxygen vacancy defects caused by tight interfacial contact. The chemical bonding interaction of this structure, as identified by the XPS technique, depicted good electronic conductivity for adjusting the intrinsic OER/HER activity in the KOH medium. Benefitting from physical properties, CdS-V2O5/g-C3N4 is employed as an OER and HER electrocatalyst, as abundant active sites with redox capability in composite showing the high charge transfer and thereby allowing the adsorption and desorption of reaction intermediates for inclusive water-splitting phenomena. Among all fabricate samples, the CdS-V2O5/g-C3N4 composite achieved 10 mA/cm2 current density at a low overpotential 200 mV (OER) and −202 mV (HER) with Tafel slope of 23 mV/dec (OER) and 63 mV/dec (HER). With a non-faradic region of CV, the CdS-V2O5/g-C3N4 composite showed large capacitance and active surface area. Specifically, the chronoamperometric test verified the long-term durability for 87/73 h for OER/HER without losing current density. Overall, this work offers a prominent composite strategy with C-based elements, which opens up a new era for good design and construction of alternatives of noble materials in the commercial electrolysis market.

Original languageEnglish
Article number134100
Number of pages13
JournalFuel
Volume385
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Apr 2025

Keywords

  • Chemical Bonding
  • Composite Strategy
  • Core@branch Sheet Structure
  • Her/oer
  • Oxygen Vacancy Defects

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