Hydrothermally synthesized Mn₃O₄ catalyst for water-splitting activity

Abstract

The current work describes a straightforward hydrothermal method for the preparation of manganese oxide microflowers (Mn 3 O 4 MFs) for water-splitting activity. The main goal of this research is to develop Mn 3 O 4 MFs as a viable and environmentally acceptable electrode material for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) mechanism. From the structural study, the tetragonal crystal structure of the Mn 3 O 4 MFs has been confirmed, and the uniformly distributed microflowers-like structures are evidenced by the scanning electron microscope analysis. In addition, the electrocatalytic activity (OER mechanism) of the prepared Mn 3 O 4 electrode has been assessed using cyclic voltammetry test and linear sweep voltammetry techniques, respectively. However, the Mn 3 O 4 MFs electrode demonstrated good catalytic activities with better electrochemical stability for the OER mechanism. The resultant electrode material reports superior properties in terms of the overpotential (236 mV), Tafel slope (162 mV dec −1 ), and electrochemical active surface area (37.5 cm 2 ) with promising stability over the 5 h of continuous treatment in the aqueous 1 M KOH electrolyte at a current density of 25 mA cm −2 , respectively. Therefore, the above findings demonstrate that Mn 3 O 4 MFs are a potential candidate for OER catalytic activity.