Enhancing the electrochemical performance of ZnO anode by novel additive of MoS2–SnO2 nanocomposite for the zinc alkaline battery application

ZnO nanorods and ZnO microrods are synthesized as the anode material for the Zn alkaline battery application. The present work studies the electrochemical performance of ZnO with regard to its size, morphology and MoS2–SnO2 nanocomposite as its additive towards the alkaline battery application. The properties, such as oxidation–reduction reaction, anti-corrosion behaviour, charge-transfer resistance and suppression of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), are studied in detail. The structural characterization of ZnO samples is performed by using X-ray diffractometry. The morphological analysis of ZnO and MoS2–SnO2 nanocomposite is performed by using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), respectively. The atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) is employed to determine the solubility of ZnO samples in KOH solution. The electrochemical properties of the bare ZnO and the ZnO with MoS2–SnO2 additive (MoS2–SnO2/ZnO) samples are characterized by using cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), cathodic polarization and Tafel polarization techniques. The ZnO with nanorod morphology shows better electrochemical performance than ZnO microrods and ZnO nanoparticles with sphere-like or plate-like morphology. The addition of MoS2–SnO2 nanocomposite with the ZnO improved the electrochemical activity, suppressed the HER activity and improved the anti-corrosion behaviour of the ZnO samples.