NdCoO₃ nanoparticles grown on reduced graphene oxide sheets as an efficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction

To meet the huge energy crisis due to the limitation of fossil fuel, hydrogen has been considered the most promising clean energy source due to its high efficiency, non-toxic, and clean emission products. Therefore, over the past few years, researchers have been trying to find an effective route for bulk production of hydrogen energy from water splitting. Many efforts have already been made to use suitable electrocatalysts such as transition metal-based oxides, hydroxide alloys, and carbides for hydrogen production from water splitting but these electrocatalysts are hindered due to instability over prolonged usages in alkaline solution. To overcome this issue, rare-earth perovskite oxide materials are being focussed as an efficient electrocatalyst for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) through water splitting in an alkaline medium. In the present work, we have explored to synthesize the rare-earth perovskite neodymium cobalt oxide (NdCoO₃) nanoparticles grown on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheet, via a hydrothermal route for electrochemical hydrogen evolution in an alkaline medium. The NdCoO₃/rGO nanocomposite shows a remarkably low overpotential of 84mV at the desired current density of 10 mA/cm², compared to pristine NdCoO₃ and rGO. The synergistic impact between NdCoO₃ and the rGO backbone, resulting in enhanced efficiency in the HER. The nanocomposite also shows high stability and durability even more than 100 h of electrolysis under an inert atmosphere.