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Phyto-mediated CuO–Sb2O3 nanocomposite supported on Ni foam as a proficient dual-functional supercapacitor electrode and overall water splitting electrocatalyst

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Abstract

Owing to the higher global energy needs through cleaner sources the present study manifests a modified and ecofriendly method for the fabrication of CuO–Sb2O3-based electrode for electrochemical experiments. The aqueous solution derived from the Amaranthus viridis L. plant, belonging to the Amaranthaceae family, was employed as a reducing agent in order to impact the structure of CuO–Sb2O3 nanocomposites. The improved material exhibited a regular crystal size of 40.04 nm that is in excellent accordance with the findings obtained from scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, FE-SEM, and energy-dispersive spectroscopy were utilized in order to examine and assess the synthesized nanocomposite. Based on the Tauc plot, the optical bandgap energy was found to be 2.7 eV. The bioorganic framework-derived CuO–Sb2O3 electrode was then evaluated for energy generation and storage applications, with cyclic voltammetry revealing a capacitance of 344.4 F/g at 2 mV/s. Hydrogen evolution reaction and oxygen evolution reactions demonstrated the electrocatalytic potential of CuO–Sb2O3 as a water splitting electrocatalyst, with the highest efficiency of the electrode up to 18 h for HER.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the Department of Environmental Sciences, Lab E-21, Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi, and higher education commission of Pakistan. This work was supported by the Researchers Supporting Project Number (RSPD2023R667), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Materials and Environmental Chemistry Lab, Lab E-21, Department of Environmental Sciences, Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan

    Sundus Azhar & Khuram Shahzad Ahmad

  2. Nutech School of Applied Sciences and Humanities (NUSASH), National University of Technology Islamabad, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Sohaila Andleeb

  3. School of Biological & Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK

    Isaac Abrahams

  4. Department of Chemistry, Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, KS, 66762, USA

    Wang Lin & Ram K. Gupta

  5. Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia

    Adel El-marghany

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  1. Sundus Azhar
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by [S.Az.], [K.S.A] and [R.K.G].The first draft of the manuscript was written by [S.Az] and [S.An]. Authors [W.L], [I.A.] and [A.E.M] supervised and contributed in analysis. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Khuram Shahzad Ahmad.

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Azhar, S., Ahmad, K.S., Andleeb, S. et al. Phyto-mediated CuO–Sb2O3 nanocomposite supported on Ni foam as a proficient dual-functional supercapacitor electrode and overall water splitting electrocatalyst. J Appl Electrochem 54, 963–976 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10800-023-02025-4

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