Bougainvillea petals-derived porous carbon nanosheets for electrocatalytic OER performance

The progression of earth-abundant and effective sustainable materials for energy conversion applications, such as the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), is vital for our future. Particularly, biomass procured carbon materials are considered as a potential catalyst owed to the inherent possessions such as environmental friendly nature, low cost and abundance. In this work, biomass-derived carbon materials were synthesized using bougainvillea petals at several temperatures, including 600 °C, 700 °C and 800 °C, via an economical approach. Various physicochemical characterizations, such as XRD, Raman, XPS, SEM and TEM analysis, were conducted, which demonstrated the formation of carbon materials and showed off the existence of porous carbon nanosheets. The prepared electrocatalyst at 700 °C exhibited outstanding catalytic performance in the OER, and it was evidenced by the low overpotential value of 368 mV to attain a current density of 50 mA/cm². Furthermore, prepared electrocatalyst at 700 °C had the highest C_dl value and ECSA value of 2.07 mF/cm² and 51.75 cm², respectively, which denoted more catalytically active sites for OER activity compared to the other synthesized materials. The finest-performed electrocatalyst of 700 °C exhibited exceptional stability over a long-term continuity process. Hence, this work will promote the successful synthesis of porous carbon nanosheets from dead flowers, demonstrating its practicability as well as its performance denotes superior effectiveness for future applications.