Hydrothermal growth of 1D VO2 for oxygen evolution reaction

Fascination surface activities offered by nanomaterials have attracted wide attention to be used as electrode materials in oxygen evolution reactions (OER). Among various transition metal oxides (TMOs), the electrochemical behavior of one-dimensional (1D) VO2 is not explored in detail due to a lack of efficient synthesis techniques. Herein, a novel synthesis route is developed to grow fine 1D VO2 following a two-step hydrothermal reaction. XRD, XPS, EDS, SEM, and HRTEM analyses confirm the monoclinic structure of 1D VO2 with fine morphologies having diameters mostly in the range of 10–100 nm. This resulted in the attainment of best-in-class electrode material for Oxygen evolution reaction (OER). VO2 shows an excellent OER activity with a low overpotential of 626 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm−2 with a low Tafel slope of 40.4 mV dec-1. Also, it showed high cyclic stability up to 5000 cycles.