Syed Shaheer Salahuddin

Summary

What I did

• Designed and fabricated four bifunctional NiFe foam electrocatalysts for alkaline water splitting via sonochemical surface modification, investigating the effect of HCl etching and noble metal (Ru, Ir) doping on HER and OER performance
• Optimized synthesis parameters including sonication time, temperature, and precursor concentration through systematic electrochemical screening in 1 M KOH
• Characterized catalyst kinetics via Tafel analysis (HER: 36.6 mV dec⁻¹, OER: 56.1 mV dec⁻¹), interfacial charge transfer via EIS (R_ct = 0.4 Ω cm⁻² HER, 2.0 Ω cm⁻² OER), and active surface area via ECSA (141.4 cm², roughness factor 566)
• Performed SEM imaging before and after electrochemical testing to correlate surface morphology with catalytic activity trends

Results

• Achieved HER and OER overpotentials of 76 mV and 176 mV at 10 mA cm⁻² for the best-performing catalyst (NiFeF@Ru), representing a 50% and 28% reduction relative to the pristine foam baseline