Insights into impacts of Co3O4-CeO2 nanocomposites on the electrochemical hydrogen storage performance of g-C3N4: Pechini preparation, structural design and comparative study

The present work reports one-pot modified Pechini synthesis of porous Co3O4-CeO2 (CC) nanostructures with the templating environment of succinic acid, and further it is decorated with graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4 or CN) substrate. Interfacial architecture of the multicomponent nanocomposites can promote the synergistic effect by adjusting the weight percent of CC guest (30%, 50% and 70%) into CN host. The con-sequent changes in the compositional, morphological features and porosity of the resulting composites are unraveled by a combination of XRD, Raman, FE-SEM, HR-TEM, and BET analyses. Remarkably, the redox reactivity and considerable electronic conductivity of nanostructured electrode materials ascertains by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronopotentiometry charge-discharge (CCD) techniques in 2.0 M KOH medium. Fabricated Co3O4-CeO2/g-C3N4 (CC-CNx%) nanocomposites proved as the energetic electrode materials for realizing hydrogen storage performance at current of 1 mA. It is demonstrated that the CC/Cu platforms can produce the discharge efficiency of 619.25 mAhg-1 after 15 cycles. However, among the various adding, the ternary nanocomposites with 50.0 wt% CC nanoparticles achieved the higher discharge capacity of about 1020.53 mAhg-1 in three electrode cell. The coupling effect of interfacial architecture presented here suggests alternative insights into constructing uniformly nanocomposites for highly efficient energy storage applications.(c) 2022 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Automated summary

This study reports a one-pot modified Pechini synthesis of porous Co3O4-CeO2 (CC) nanostructures, which are further decorated with graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4). The interfacial architecture of the multicomponent nanocomposites can promote synergistic effects by adjusting the weight percent of CC guest into CN host.