Dual-functional fullerene supported NiO-based nanocomposite: Efficient electrocatalyst for OER and photocatalyst for MB dye degradation

Developing effective and noble-metal-free electrocatalysts for the grim oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and photocatalysts for pollutant elimination is critical for long-term energy supply and environmental remediation. Herein a simple sol-gel technique is used to synthesize NiO/C60 electrophotocatalyst and is characterized via different state-of-art techniques. All the characteristic analytical studies have discovered that the structural components dramatically increased the OER and photocatalytic activity for grown NiO/C60 nanocomposite. TEM results showed that the C60 uniformly covering NiO has a particle size of 46 nm. NiO/C60 electrocatalyst has outperformed the overpotential of 310 mV at a current density of 10 mA/cm². At the applied voltage, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy showed that the catalytically active surfaces of NiO/C60 and charge transfer rate are much greater than simple NiO. It was also discovered that the grown nanocomposite remained stable for 30 h without degrading, outlasting numerous recent noble-metal-free electrocatalysts. In addition, the NiO/C60 has also exhibited excellent photocatalytic reduction efficiency for Methylene blue (MB) dye and completely degraded after 40 min under sunlight with the stability of up to six cycles. Our findings show that NiO-based water oxidation electrocatalysts and efficient photocatalysts may now be produced at a low cost with outstanding performance.