Uday Pratap Azad

Yttrium Copper Titanate as a Highly Efficient Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Fuel Cells, Synthesized via Ultrafast Automatic Flame Technique

Replacing platinum (Pt) metal-based electrocatalysts used in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in fuel cells is an important research topic due to the high cost and scarcity of Pt, which have restricted the commercialization of these clean-energy technologies. The ABO3-type perovskite family of an ACu3Ti4O12 (A = Ca, Y, Bi, and La) polycrystalline material can serve as an alternative electrocatalyst for the ORR in terms of low-cost, activity, and stability. These perovskite materials may be considered the next generation electro-catalyst for the ORR because of their photocatalytic activity and physical and chemical properties capable of containing a wide range of A- and B-site metals. This paper reports the ORR activity of a new Y2/3Cu3Ti4O12 perovskite, synthesized via a rapid and facile automatic flame synthesis technique using rotating disk electrode (RDE) measurements. Y2/3Cu3Ti4O12/C has superior ORR activity, stability, and durability compared to commercial Pt/C. The results presented in this article will provide the future perspectives to research based on ACu3Ti4O12 (A = Ca, Y, Bi, Sm, Cd, and La) perovskite as the next generation electro-catalyst for the ORR in various electrochemical devices, such as fuel cells, metal–air batteries, and electrolysis.

Copper(I) tertiary phosphine xanthate complexes as single source precursors for copper sulfide and their application in OER

Three isomeric bis-(triphenylphosphine)copper(I) complexes comprising xanthate ligands derived from 2- (1), 3- (2), and 4-methanol pyridine (3) have been synthesized and characterized using microanalyses, IR, multinuclear NMR, UV-Vis and fluorescence spectroscopic methods as well as single crystal X-ray diffraction. The single crystal X-ray diffraction results indicated that the immediate geometry around Cu(I) in the complexes is distorted tetrahedral, which is satisfied by the two sulfur centers of the xanthate ligands and two phosphorus centers of the two PPh3 moieties. Additionally, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) under an inert atmosphere was performed, and the results indicated that the complexes decompose to copper sulfide. The complexes were decomposed under an inert atmosphere to obtain copper sulfides, which were characterized by PXRD and SEM. Additionally, their electrocatalytic properties were investigated in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The OER results indicate that the copper sulfide (CuxS-3) obtained from 3 exhibited the best activity with an onset potential of 475 mV.