Investigating the electrocatalytic activity of zirconia atom doped manganese selenide (Zr–MnSe) nanoparticles for OER/HER in an alkaline medium

Designing durable and economically feasible electrocatalysts for electrochemical water splitting is important yet challenging. In this study, we synthesized the Zr-doped manganese selenide (Zr–MnSe) using a simple hydrothermal treatment. The doping of the zirconia atom significantly generates a defects-enriched porous coralline structure of Zr–MnSe that brings high surface area and multiple active sites. Various characterization, including XRD, FTIR, TEM/EDX, I–V, and XPS, are used to study its physical properties. The designed porous coralline Zr–MnSe structure is an efficient electrocatalyst with an overpotential of 242 and 157 mV for OER and HER, exhibiting a modest Tafel slope at the desired current density. The reduced charge transfer resistance (1.6 and 1.12 Ω for OER and HER) is evaluated in the corresponding Randles circuit and is responsible for a large functional surface area of 1160 cm², as confirmed by ECSA. This electrocatalyst delivers excellent electrocatalysis performance with long-term stability of 45/35 h for OER/HER. Thus, zirconium doping tunes the MnSe network, paving new ways to design porous bifunctional catalysts with defective features towards energy conversion systems.