Metal Nickel Foam as an Efficient and Stable Electrode for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction in Acidic Electrolyte under Reasonable Overpotentials

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 8; no. 8; pp. 5065 - 5069
• Main Authors: Lu, Jia, Xiong, Tanli, Zhou, Weijia, Yang, Linjing, Tang, Zhenghua, Chen, Shaowei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 02-03-2016
• Subjects: acidic electrolyte; stable electrocatalyst; hydrogen evolution reaction; nickel foam; equilibrium potential
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b00233

Acidic electrolytes are advantageous for water electrolysis in the production of hydrogen as there is a large supply of H+ ions in the solution. In this study, with the applied overpotential larger than the equilibrium potential of Ni0/Ni2+, Ni foam as HER electrode exhibits excellent and stable HER activity with an onset potential of −84 mV (vs RHE), a high current density of 10 mA cm–2 at −210 mV (vs RHE), and prominent electrochemical durability (longer than 5 days) in acidic electrolyte. The results presented herein may has potential large-scale application in hydrogen energy production.