Author: SUKOMOL BARUA
Dissertation title: Anode and cathode materials for energy conversion systems
Fields of science: Chemistry N 003
Scientific supervisor: dr. Aldona Balčiūnaitė
Defence of the dissertation: 19 September 2025
SUMMARY: Hydrogen is being considered as the most sustainable and renewable green energy source for the future due to the rapid depletion of existing hydrocarbon-based fossil fuels. The main purpose of this work is to synthesize stable, low-cost, non-noble transition metal-based anode and cathode electrocatalysts for water splitting applications, characterizing their surface morphology, structure and composition by SEM and ICP-OES and finally investigating their electrocatalytic performance, durability and applicability in different alkaline electrolytes including seawater. The electrodeposition method using dynamic hydrogen bubble template (DHBT) technique was applied to fabricate 3D binary and ternary electrocatalysts. The DHBT technique plays a significant role to synthesize these anode and cathode electrocatalysts with high surface area via enhancing the exposure of active sites and creating a porous morphology on the substrate surface. This technique utilizes in situ generated H2 bubbles as dynamic templates during the electrochemical deposition and the hydrogen bubbles evolved during electrolysis introduce the controlled microstructure and surface morphology. Hydrogen and oxygen evolution reaction – two half reactions involved in water electrolysis were investigated using aqueous alkaline media, simulated seawater and alkaline seawater. The overall alkaline seawater splitting performance was also investigated using the optimized 3D NiMn/Ti electrocatalysts as cathode and anode.