The development of renewable energy systems require the unification of efficient energy storage and hydrogen production facilities. Trifunctional electrocatalysts function as a single system which synchronously enables charge storage, hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), providing a congruent platform. Systematic synthesis techniques promote the enhancement of catalytic activity, and long-term stability. In this context, low-frequency ultrasound (∼20 kHz) induces severe cavitation with the resultant physical forces generating radicals that primarily drive sonochemical processes. In this work, we employed a mechanical wave-assisted synthesis method to prepare Cu(2-x)CoxP2O7. The resulting electrocatalyst delivers an impressive specific capacitance of 681 F g−1, maintaining a cycling stability of 81% after enduring 30 000 cycles. The constructed symmetric supercapacitor attains an energy density of 17.4 Wh kg−1 and a power density of 699 W kg−1. Furthermore, CuCoP2O7 delivers strong bifunctional activity, necessitating merely 64 mV for HER and 288 mV for OER to reach a current density of 10 mA cm−2 while also facilitating overall water splitting by attaining 20 mA cm−2 at 1.60 V. Remarkably, the electrocatalyst achieves a Faradaic efficiency of 97.5%, demonstrating its outstanding effectiveness in facilitating oxygen and hydrogen evolution. These multifunctional electrocatalysts establish a pathway toward scalable, high-performance devices that integrate electrochemical energy storage with sustainable hydrogen production.
Karthikesan et al. (Mon,) studied this question.