Tetraether bridged benzylideneamino mercaptopropanoic acid substituted Cobalt phthalocyanine/rGO as a catalyst for oxygen evolution reaction in an alkaline medium

Water splitting reaction is a bottleneck for the environmentally safe production of hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2). Catalysts with high effectualness, extended durability, and affordable are the most important factors for water splitting. Porphyrin-based materials are promising electro-catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction. In this project, we synthesized porphyrin-based N4-macrocyclic complex Tetraether bridged benzylideneamino mercaptopropanoic acid substituted Cobalt phthalocyanine (TEBMPCoPc) and characterized by different spectro-analytical techniques like FT-IR, NMR, Mass, XRD, TGA, and FESEM. The hybrid composite was produced by ball-milling TEBMPCoPc with reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The prepared hybrid catalyst TEBMPCoPc + rGO is used for the water oxidation reaction in 1 M KOH. Surprisingly, TEBMPCoPc + rGO exhibits a better catalytic activity towards hydrogen production through Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) with a subsidiary overpotential of 364 mV required to reach the current density of 10 mA cm-2, with a lower Tafel slope value of 56 mV/dec for an OER. Besides, TEBMPCoPc + rGO portrays decent time durability of 12 h and stability.

Automated summary

Water splitting reaction is crucial for environmentally safe production of hydrogen and oxygen. Porphyrin-based materials show promise as electro-catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction. In this project, we synthesized a novel porphyrin-based hybrid catalyst and characterized it. The hybrid catalyst exhibits good catalytic activity and stability in the water oxidation reaction.