Structural, electrocatalytic, dielectric and optical studies to unveil the synergistic effect of B-site cations diversity in La0.6Sr0.4Co1-xBxO3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.8) (B = Ni, Fe, Cu, Cr) oxide materials
摘要
The outstanding properties of perovskite oxide materials have attained significant attention for energy conversion and storage applications. A series of polycrystalline La0.6Sr0.4Co1-xBxO3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.8) (B = Ni, Fe, Cu, Cr) perovskite oxide materials have been fabricated by Pechini modified sol–gel method at 750 °C with gradual doping of different cations on B-site. A detailed examination of the compositional impacts on the structure, optical, dielectric and electrical properties that characterize the fundamental physics has been carried out in this work. The lattice parameters are observed to increase with the decrease in Co contents due to the difference in ionic radii of the substituted B-site cations. With the moderate Tafel slope and low overpotential of 290 mV and 305 mV at 10 mAcm−2, the respective La0.6Sr0.4Co0.6Ni0.2Fe0.2O3 and La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Ni0.2Fe0.2Cu0.2Cr0.2O3 materials have demonstrated exceptional oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalytic activity, making them suitable for energy storage devices. Dielectric constant (єʹ, єʹʹ) and tangent loss decrease as the applied frequency increases. The impedance Zʹ ranges from minimum of 537 Ω to the maximum of 10,022 Ω and leads to the applications in sensor technology, supercapacitors, electrochemical devices and dielectric filters. Grain boundary conduction was evaluated using Nyquist and Cole–Cole plots, along with Randles circuit study. The higher values of optical bandgaps (3.21–3.71 eV) and (2.89–3.28 eV) find applications in photocatalysis, optoelectronic devices and UV photodetectors. It is observed that Urbach energy ranges from 564–1163 meV with transition of B-site cations. Moreover, I-V measurement at room temperature indicated the semiconducting type behavior of La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Ni0.2Fe0.2Cu0.2Cr0.2O3 high entropy perovskite oxide composition.