Enhancing the bifunctional electrocatalytic efficacy of sponge like barium nickelate through cobalt doping to facilitate overall alkaline water electrolysis

Earth-abundant and effective electrocatalysts for electrochemical water splitting process have seen an exceptional rise in research over the past few years. Among these, synthesis of active, long-lasting materials that act as bifunctional electrocatalysts in an alkaline environment is a crucial step for the development of perovskite-based electrocatalysts. Herein, perovskite type BaNi1-xCoxO3; x = 0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5; prepared by economic solution combustion method is reported with regard to its oxygen and hydrogen evolution activity in 1.0 M KOH. The benchmark current density of 10 mAcm−2 was reached by BaNi0.7Co0.3O3 (BC3) with the lowest overpotential of 279 mV and 419 mV for OER and HER respectively. Furthermore, BC3 showed a phenomenal bifunctional electrocatalytic property with an overall cell voltage of 1.98 V at 10 mAcm−2 in a two-electrode system. A gain by 92 mV in overall electrocatalytic activity of BC3 was recorded after 24 h of constant splitting of water at 30 mAcm−2 makes it an interesting bifunctional electrocatalyst best suited for large scale hydrogen production through water electrolyser.