Effect of carbon coating on Cu electrodes for hydrogen production by water splitting

Abstract

In recent years, fossil fuel depletion has been increasing, which leads to environmental issues. Hydrogen energy is considered a promising renewable energy to replace fossil fuels because it is a sustainable, clean, and green energy source. Among hydrogen production methods, water splitting has the highest reliability and is used the most often. Platinum is normally used as water splitting catalyst and an electrode. However, there has been much effort to replace it as such owing to its high cost. Copper (Cu) is not used as water splitting catalyst or an electrode, despite its high current density, because of its corrosive properties. In this study, carbon was coated onto a Cu substrate and a hydrogen production experiment was carried out with 0.1 M Na2SO4 and 0.1 M H2SO4 electrolytes. As a result, the carbon coating decreased oxidation rate of the Cu electrode and effected stability in short-term hydrogen evolution experiment. This indicates the possibility of carbon-Cu electrode with other catalytic materials.