Multifunctional manganese and activated carbon supported SnFe₂O₄ nanocubes for water oxidation and electrochemical storage

Energy scarcity and environmental protection are dual challenges for current global communities. Scalable, non-toxic and earth abundant tin ferrite (SnFe₂O₄) serves as an electrode material and is potential candidate for energy conversions (anodic water splitting) and storage (supercapacitor), however, constraint by electron transport limitations and inefficient utilization of active material. Here we synthesize manganese (Mn) and activated carbon (AC) integrated SnFe₂O₄ via co-precipitation approach. Electrochemical measurement reveals that the doped SnFe₂O₄ exhibit abundant active sites, refined electronic structure, augmented electronic properties, and favorable adsorption energies for catalytic intermediates. As an electrode material for oxygen evolution reaction (OER), highly doped optimum sample (5 wt % of Mn) shows low overpotential of 217 mV at 10 mA cm⁻² and Tafel slope of 47 mV dec⁻¹. This optimum designed electrode presents the specific capacitance of 735.4 Fg^-1 at 1.2 Ag^-1. These finding yield an efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst for OER and supercapacitor applications.