https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-025-06697-z
Regular Article
Development of polyaniline engineered Gd2O3 nanocomposite acting as proficient electrocatalyst for OER
1
Department of Biochemistry, Bahauddin Zakaria University (BZU), Multan, Punjab, Pakistan
2
Centre for Research Impact & Outcome, Chitkara University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Chitkara University, 140401, Rajpura, India
3
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Renewable Energy, Technical Engineering College, The Islamic University, Najaf, Iraq
4
Department of Physics, College of Science, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. Box 84428, 11671, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
5
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering & Technology, Marwadi University Research Center, Marwadi University, 360003, Rajkot, Gujarat, India
6
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, School of Sciences, JAIN (Deemed to Be University), Bangalore, Karnataka, India
7
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
8
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, Applied Science Private University, P.O. Box 166, 11931, Amman, Jordan
9
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (Deemed to Be University), 751030, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
10
Department of Mechanical Engineering, , Chandigarh Engineering College, Chandigarh Group of Colleges-Jhanjeri, 140307, Mohali, Punjab, India
11
University Centre for Research and Development, Chandigarh University, 140413, Mohali, Punjab, India
Received:
18
February
2025
Accepted:
28
July
2025
Published online:
30
August
2025
Water electrolysis is emerging as convenient and clean energy production technique as compared to conventional methods. Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is considered as a key reaction of water electrocatalysis due to its slow reaction kinetics. Thus an efficient and low cost electrocatalyst is in high demand to increase the effectiveness of OER process. Here, simple hydrothermal method is used to fabricate Gd2O3/PANI nanocomposite to act as an electrocatalyst. The OER action of nanocomposite is studied in 1.0 M KOH solution. The Gd2O3/PANI nanocomposite shows overpotential (205 mV) and Tafel (36 mV dec−1) at 10 mA/cm2. The low charge transfer resistance (Rct) value for Gd2O3/PANI indicates the less resistance at electrode–electrolyte interface. The surface area of composite expands due to the incorporation of PANI increasing the reactive sites availability for OER reaction. The composite shows electrochemical stability for 50 h without any destruction in OER performance. This remarkable outcome of Gd2O3/PANI is due to the synergetic effect of both Gd2O3 and PANI, particularly conjugated structure and lone pair electrons of nitrogen present in PANI which provide the flow of electrons during reaction and enhance the hydroxyl ion adsorption on composite surface making it an efficient, cost-effective electrocatalyst toward OER process.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
