Spinel-type nickel iron oxide anchored on conducting polymer PANI: A novel electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER)

The growing need for sustainable energy has encouraged researchers to emphasize on establishing strong electroactive catalysts for improved water-splitting processes. Water-electrolysis study demands electroactive catalysts having outstanding electrocatalytic efficiency and ecologically friendly characteristics to develop considerable hydrogen energy sources. In this work, NiFe₂O₄/PANI nanocomposite was produced through a hydrothermal approach for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The manufactured electrocatalysts were investigated via various physical approaches to analyze the crystallinity, surface area and elemental composition. The electrochemical performance of fabricated NiFe₂O₄/PANI nanocomposite was studied under 1 M KOH, revealing distinctive HER performance with least overpotential (ƞ) of −161 mV to yield current density (j) -10 mA/cm² which is substantially smaller than −218 mV found for pristine NiFe₂O_4. Additionally, electrocatalyst NiFe₂O₄/PANI attains least Tafel slope (63 mV/dec), provides means of electron transport with prolonged durability (50 h) as evaluated by chronoamperometry technique. NiFe₂O₄/PANI has a high potential for water electrolysis as well as other electrochemical procedures owing to its large surface area, several active sites, outstanding durability, fast electron transportation, minimal resistivity and suitable electrical conductivity. As a result, this work shows that the highly effective NiFe₂O₄/PANI nanocomposite serves as the catalyst for future energy-related applications.