TiO₂ and ZnO based ternary nanocomposites coupled with gC₃N₄ and tetra-amino zinc phthalocyanine for enhanced oxygen evolution reaction performance

Electrocatalytic water splitting is a sustainable approach to address the energy crisis driven by the rapid growth of global population. The development of affordable and efficient electrocatalysts is inevitable in advancing the field. In the current study, TiO 2 NPs-TAZnPC-gC 3 N 4 (TiO 2 nanoparticles , tetra amino zinc phthalocyanine, and gC₃N₄) and ZnONPs-TAZnPC-gC 3 N 4 (ZnO nanoparticles , tetra amino zinc phthalocyanine, and gC₃N₄) ternary nanocomposites have been prepared using a dispersion method. The structural identity of nanoparticles and the effective incorporation of additional moieties into the final system are validated using powder X-ray diffraction analysis and confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images reveal the sheet-like structures of gC 3 N 4 and TAZnPC , decorated with spherical TiO 2 NPs and hexagonal ZnONPs . The prepared ternary composites are evaluated for their electrocatalytic water splitting performance. In particular, the electrocatalysts reveal excellent oxygen evolution reaction (OER) capabilities with overpotentials of 420 mV and 450 mV for TiO 2 NPs-TAZnPC-gC 3 N 4 and ZnONPs-TAZnPC-gC 3 N 4 , respectively. • TiO 2 NPs-TAZnPC-gC 3 N 4 and ZnONPs-TAZnPC-gC 3 N 4 are synthesized using a dispersion method. • The structure is confirmed using XRD and XPS analysis. • Sheet-like structures decorated with spherical TiO₂ NPs and hexagonal ZnO NPs. • TiO 2 NPs-TAZnPC-gC 3 N 4 showed an overpotential of 420 mV at 20 mA cm −2 for OER.