Electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction and methanol oxidation using surface-oriented stable NiSnO3 nanospheres anchored g-C3N4 nanosheets

Transition metal oxides have arisen as smart and inexpensive electrocatalytic materials for water oxidation. In this work, a simple hydrothermal method is demonstrated for the first time to synthesize perovskite-type NiSnO3 nanospheres interacted with graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) nanosheets with fruit-beared cherry tree like morphology and investigate its surface-oriented electrocatalytic performance such as oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). First, the structural and morphological analysis of the as-synthesized nanohybrid has been studied using various physico-chemical techniques to confirm the bonding interaction between NiSnO3 nanospheres and g-C3N4. For comparison, NiO, SnO2, and NiO/SnO2 nanocomposites were also synthesized and studied. This study highlights the surface-derived synergistic interaction between g-C3N4 nanosheets and NiSnO3 nanospheres, which have absolutely led the prepared NiSnO3/g-C3N4 nanohybrid loaded on 316 stainless steel (SSL) mesh electrodes to excellent electrocatalytic performances, assessed using linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), cyclic voltammetry (CV), and impedance analysis. The nanohybrid loaded electrode needs a low overpotential of 240 mV to reach the current density of 10 mA cm−2 and a Tafel slope of 42 mV dec-1 for OER. In addition, the synthesized nanohybrid loaded electrode was tested for methanol oxidation, which shows an enhanced electrocatalytic performance with a current density of 295 mA cm−2. The produced nanohybrid electrode also demonstrates long-term stability for both OER and MOR, suggesting as an alternate to noble metal electrocatalyst.