Nickel tip-decorated carbon hybrid with spaghetti-like architecture as an efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction.

Hydrogen has been heavily explored as an energy carrier for future energy needs. Hence, production via water electrolysis can be powered by renewable sources of energy, which is one of the keys to a sustainable energy system. Transition metal-based electrocatalysts are heavily explored for large-scale production as a promising alternative to noble metal oxides for water splitting in alkaline media. Various morphologies have been discovered to develop these electrocatalysts; This work explores a unique spaghetti-like architecture of the MWCNTs in nickel-infused carbon hybrid. The prepared morphology showed a substantially lowered overpotential of 187 mV for oxygen evolution reaction (OER), with a lower Tafel slope of 49 mV/dec-1. The catalyst remained stable for a prolonged duration with enhanced mass activity. The improved catalytic performance of the composite is attributed to the unique spaghetti-like microstructure formed by the MWCNTs in the silica matrix, which enhances the electronic conductivity and provides a fast and efficient diffusion pathway between the electrolyte and the working electrode surface. This research aims to exhibit the effect of the proposed morphology obtained at different pyrolysis temperatures (1000℃ and 1200℃) on the electrocatalytic properties of the SiOC matrix.