Harvesting Green Hydrogen by Self-Propelling Built-in Electric Field Photo/Electro-catalytic Performance of DyCrO3 Nanoparticles Developed by Reverse Microemulsion Route

Herein, we demonstrate photocatalytic hydrogen generation and the role of sacrificial agents using multi-functional DyCrO3 nanoparticles by virtue of built-in electric field (BIEF) which helps in increasing charge separation efficiency. DyCrO3 nanoparticles synthesized by the low-cost reverse micellar approach showed high surface area (17.9 m(2)/g) and band-gap (2.01 eV) in visible region. Sacrificial agent assisted photocatalytic H-2 production of DyCrO3 nanoparticles exhibited higher selectivity towards Na2S/Na2SO3 by producing H-2 evolution of 347 mu molh-1gcat-1 ${mol\ {h}<^>{-1}{g}_{cat}<^>{-1}{\rm \ }}$ and apparent quantum yield of 6.8% than ethylene glycol and triethanolamine, respectively. The oxygen defects (observed in X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic studies) and BIEF both synergistically helped in enhancing photocatalytic activity. Moreover, the multifunctional competence of DyCrO3 nanoparticles was observed in electrocatalytic water splitting. DyCrO3 nanoparticles found to be active HER and OER electrocatalyst with low overpotential and great durability.