Account of Ni/NiO Nanoparticle-Supported N-Doped Graphitic Carbon Derived from Sugarcane Waste as a Sustainable Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Evolution Reaction

The recent past has witnessed an exponential increase in the demand for energy conversion, storage, and consumption technologies. The development of inexpensive, efficient, durable electrode materials and catalysts is critical to the success of these technologies/devices. Here, we present a simple, sustainable, cost-effective, and scalable method for preparing stable and effective nickel/nickel oxide nanoparticles on highly porous N-doped graphitic carbon. The catalysts were prepared by a direct pyrolysis method at different temperatures under an argon atmosphere. When compared to other catalysts, the carbon material synthesized at 800 °C (Ni@NBC-800) exhibits higher efficiency in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The onset potential for Ni@NBC-800 °C is 190 mV versus RHE, and for η10, it is 310 mV versus RHE. The Tafel slope for Ni@NBC-800 was 77 mV/decade. The Nyquist plot revealed that the electron charge-transfer resistance (RCT) for Ni@NBC-800 is found to be 12 Ω. Ni@NBC-800 shows good performance in OER as a catalyst because of low charge-transfer resistance and mesoporous morphology. The stability of the catalysts was checked by chronoamperometry at a constant potential in alkaline media (1 M KOH), and Ni@NBC-800 revealed the best stability (around 0.6 mA/cm2 h) of 24 h among other catalysts. Therefore, this work offers a sustainable route to develop environment-friendly electrocatalysts for high-performance OER.