Solvothermal synthesis and characterization studies of selenium decorated reduced graphene oxide supported CuSe2 nanoparticles as efficient electrochemical catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction

Abstract

In the energy conversion system, oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is one of the most significant reactions. Pt-based catalysts are commonly used in fuel cells; the replacement with low-cost materials like transition metal oxides is much needed for the wide application of fuel cells. In this paper, the effective synthesis of copper selenide nanoparticles with selenium-reduced graphene oxide has been described. To establish the existence of selenium, graphene, and copper in manufactured samples, X-Ray diffraction analysis (XRD) has been used. Additionally, fourier transform infrared analysis (FTIR) has been used to examine the functional groups. The structure and morphology have been studied under the scanning electron microscope. UV has been used to assess the synthetic nanoparticles' optical performance. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) methods have been used to analyze their specific surface area and pore size. Cyclic voltammetry has been used to evaluate the produced nanoparticles' electrochemical performance (CV, LSV).