12th Global Conference on Global Warming (GCGW-2024) May 16-19, 2024 Sanliurfa, Türkiye

SYNTHESIS OF COBALT-BASED ELECTROCATALYSTS VIA ELECTROCHEMICAL METHODS AND INVESTIGATION OF THEIR EFFECTS ON HYDROGEN EVOLUTION REACTION

Hurmus Gursu1*
1 Clean Energy Technologies Institute, Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, Esenler, Türkiye *Corresponding author e-mail: hurmusg@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

The use of fossil fuels as the primary energy source results in significant issues such as global climate change and energy crisis. Therefore, transitioning to renewable energy sources is critical for a sustainable future. Hydrogen is a promising renewable energy carrier in the global energy transition; however, achieving low-cost and environmentally friendly production, storage, and transportation is crucial for its commercial viability. Nowadays, water electrolysis is acknowledged as a prominent eco-friendly technology for hydrogen generation. Cobalt-based materials are widely studied as highlighted electrocatalysts for hydrogen production owing to abundant reserves, high stability, and low-cost. This study has investigated the effect of both the chemical and physical properties of electrocatalysts on the hydrogen evolution reaction in detail. With this study, various cobalt-based materials were initially synthesized on a graphite-based substrate via electrochemical method, followed by their electrochemical, crystallographic and morphological characterization.The characterization of the electrocatalysts were carried out by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), cyclic voltammetry (CV), and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) methods. Afterwards, the performance of the cobalt-based materials obtained as electrocatalysts was thoroughly investigated for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The electrocatalytic activities of electrocatalysts for the HER exhibited differences depending on he parameters such as crystal structure, surface and morphological functionality. Additionally, the electrocatalyst coded as Co@1 with a lower overpotential, demonstrated higher electrocatalytic activity for the HER.

Keywords: Co-based electrocatalyst, Transition metal, Cyclic voltammetry, Chronoamperometry, Hydrogen evolution reaction