Abstract
In this study, the role of pH in a material's phase, morphology, and electrochemical properties was thoroughly investigated by producing lanthanum molybdates. The investigated samples were designed as electrodes for the electrochemical water oxidation process to produce clean energy in a half-cell fabrication. An excellent electrochemical water oxidation was demonstrated by La2Mo2O7 at pH7, which showed an outstanding 241 +/- 1 mA/g current density with very low (197 mV) overpotential. This is a quite good output obtained from such binary metal oxides. Furthermore, lower Tafel slope (59 mV/ dec) was observed for the same candidate along with early oxygen evolution reaction (OER) because of ion migrations. Interestingly, 99% activity retention was evidenced for the optimized candidate over 16 h in a half-cell design. The findings of this study may generate great interest among young researchers in developing novel bimetal oxides for robust and sustainable water electrolysis to produce clean energy. (c) 2020 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.