Fabrication and investigation of performance of nanocomposite electrodes composed of carbon quantum dots and copper nanoparticles for catalysis of hydrogen evolution reaction

In the energy production and storage systems in an industrial plant, the system s efficiency is an important goal for the manufacturers. So, fabrication improvement and changes of the system compartments can increase the efficiency. The catalysis of reactions involved for electricity production is a good choice for efficiency improvement. Different types of catalysts are designed depending on the nature of process. They can be composed of metals, metal alloys and metal oxides. Carbon-based materials have also been used as a supporting catalyst, due to their high active surface area. In the present work, a composite composed of a carbon-based nanomaterial (carbon quantum dot) and metallic nanoparticles (copper) is used as a catalyst for catalysis of hydrogen evolution reaction. The present research project is oriented in order to introduce a new nanoporous and environmentally-friendly nanocomposite as a candidate for application in energy production and storage systems. For fabrication of mentioned nano composite we used from electrochemical methods. Electrocatalytic behavior of prepared electrodes also have been studied by linear sweep voltammetry, chronoamperometry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy techniques. Results show that presence of carbon quantum dots as a porous, suitable and easy synthesis based catalyst caused to increases of active surface area that this effect observed as decreases of overvoltage and increases of current density. Also, by comparing the kinetic quantity such as the tafel slope, the effect of improving the catalytic activity as a result of the presence of quantum carbon is well visible. The stability of prepared nano composite also was investigated by chronoamperometry method during 3h. Finally, the EIS results confirmed the positive effect of proposed nano composite by good electronic conductivity and weak charge resistance.