Synergistic effects of SrCeO₃-ZnTe heterostructures on oxygen evolution reaction performance

Hydrogen production through water splitting is considered a promising strategy to produce renewable energy to mitigate energy and environmental challenges simultaneously. However, the critical challenge is to overcome the difficulties associated with the rate-determining step of water splitting, which is the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). New materials and strategies are highly demanded to overcome this vital issue. Considering the importance of the topic, in this study, we have synthesized a novel and cost-effective hetero-structured material (SrCeO₃-ZnTe) using a facile sonochemical and hydrothermal synthesis route to employ for OER. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-Transform Infra-red Spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron Microscopy (TEM), Energy-Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis were employed to study the structural and physicochemical properties of the as-prepared SrCeO₃-ZnTe. Compared to the individual electrocatalysts (SrCeO₃ and ZnTe), the heterostructure showed the ability of robust electron transferring and diffusion due to defective site interactions between ZnTe and SrCeO₃, as confirmed via cyclic voltammetry (CV). Thus, the SrCeO₃-ZnTe nanocomposite showed a lower overpotential of 310 mV and a smaller Tafel slope of 36 mV.dec⁻¹ and enhanced stability for 30 h without any significant losses in current density as confirmed via chronoamperometry. The remarkable OER performance of the synthesized heterostructure electrocatalyst was attributed to the synergistic effects of both individual ZnTe and SrCeO₃ acting synergistically in the heterostructure.