C-BUDDY

Funding from the Irish Research Council

C-BUDDY

Green and cost-effective generation of energy holds great potential in solving the current perceived global environmental and energy crisis. A viable route to produce renewable electricity is through the electrochemical splitting of water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. Although noble metal catalysts are widely used to promote electrocatalytic splitting reactions, they are often condemned for their scarcity and high cost. As an alternative, intense research is being carried out in designing and evaluating earth-abundant carbon-based metal-free materials as electrocatalysts. Recent attempts in the field of material science have opened possibilities for designing hybrid carbon-based nanomaterials with enhanced properties compared to their individuals. Stimulated by the stability and physicochemical characterization of hybrid carbon-based materials, the C-BUDDY project focuses on assessing novel carbon materials for their electrocatalytic activity. Of high interest is the tuning of its performance through structural modifications such as defect engineering, functionalization. The outcomes of the research would hopefully become a toolkit for designing and employing novel carbon-based hybrid materials for electrocatalysis and much more.