Controlled growth of Sb2S3 nanorods on phosphorus doped reduced graphene oxide for enhanced overall water splitting

Abstract

In this study, we attempted to synthesize antimony sulphide (Sb₂S₃) nanorods supported on various heteroatom doped reduced graphene oxides (rGO) for overall water splitting. Accordingly, Sb₂S₃ nanorods supported on a phosphorus-doped reduced graphene oxide (P-rGO) (Sb₂S₃@P-rGO)-coated glassy carbon (GC) electrode outperform the others in terms of electrocatalytic performance. To achieve a current density of 10 mA cm⁻², the Sb₂S₃@P-rGO coated GC electrode demonstrated very low overpotentials of 225.5 and 162 mV, with the corresponding Tafel slopes of 31 and 141.8 mV dec⁻¹ for the HER and OER, respectively. Importantly, a complete cell was constructed using Sb₂S₃@P-rGOIISb₂S₃@P-rGO loaded stainless steel (SS) mesh electrodes, which have an efficient and a very low cell voltage of 1.57 V at 10 mA cm⁻² and are thought to be an efficient catalyst for overall water splitting.