Facile fabrication of Y type hexaferrite Sr₂Ni₂Fe₁₂O₂₂ supported carbon dots nanocomposite for enhanced water oxidation

Water-splitting reactions, including the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), commonly require expensive noble metal-based electrocatalysts. This has inspired researchers to create innovative, economical electrocatalytic systems. The present study boons the fabrication of a novel multicomponent nanocomposite, integrating Sr₂Ni₂Fe₁₂O₂₂Y-type hexaferrites (YF), and carbon dots (CDs) and abbreviated as (YF@CDs). The YF@CDs exhibits a high porosity, multiple electroactive sites, rapid charge transfer, outstanding stability, and conductivity confirmed via various analytical techniques. The fabricated materials demonstrated exceptional performance in OER, exhibiting long-term durability of up to 40 h on a glassy carbon electrode. At a current density of 10 mA cm⁻², this dual-function electrocatalyst demonstrates exceptional performance, with moderate overpotential values of 285 mV and 112 mV for OER and HER, and low Tafel slopes of 73 and 97 mV dec⁻¹, respectively. Furthermore, it also shows decent turnover frequency (TOF) values (0.727 s⁻¹, and 0.563 s⁻¹ for OER and HER, respectively. It also has high mass activity value (574 mA mg⁻¹ for OER and 222.4 mA mg⁻¹ for HER). Furthermore, the resultant catalyst also shows high electrochemical active surface area (ECSA) of 2750 cm². Thus, this enhanced activity is due the good morphology, and large surface area of the nanocomposite material. This study presents a novel vision to investigate for the first time to indicate the boosted integrated performance between carbon-based materials along with YF. The unique features of individual component in this nanocomposite can be an interesting topic in the field of HER, OER, and many other electrochemical applications.