Nanostructured 3D-porous graphene hydrogel based Ti/Sb–SnO₂–Gr electrode with enhanced electrocatalytic activity

Nanostructured highly porous 3D-Ti/Sb–SnO₂–Gr electrode, based on 3D porous graphene hydrogel was fabricated via a fast-evaporation technique through layer by layer (LBL) deposition. The 3D pores are uniformly distributed on the high fidelity of substrate with pore sizes of 7–12 nm, as confirmed by SEM analysis. Compared to Ti/Sb–SnO₂ electrode, the fabricated 3D porous electrode possesses high oxygen evolution potential (2.40 V), smaller charge transfer resistance (29.40 Ω cm⁻²), higher porosity (0.90), enhanced roughness factor (181), and larger voltammetric charge value (57.4 mC cm⁻²). Electrocatalytic oxidation of Rhodamine B (RhB) was employed to evaluate the efficiency of the fabricated 3D-Ti/Sb–SnO₂–Gr anode. The results show that the electrochemical reaction follows pseudo first order kinetics with rate constant (k) value of 4.93 × 10⁻² min⁻¹, which is about 3.91 times higher compared to flat Ti/Sb–SnO₂. The fabricated electrode demonstrates better stability and low specific energy consumption signifying its potential usage in electrocatalysis.