Hierarchical AgNi Alloy@NiO/Ni(OH)2 nanosheets on Ni foam as 3D electrode towards methanol and formate oxidation

Abstract

Direct liquid fuel cells (DLFCs) are regarded as promising technologies for clean energy conversion. However, the high cost of platinum-group-metal catalysts and the unsatisfactory performance of electrodes still limit their applications in DLFCs. Developing robust and low-cost electrode is highly desired for DLFC applications. In this paper, hierarchical NiO/Ni(OH)2 with the anchor of AgNi alloy is constructed on Ni foam through hydrothermal and annealing procedures. The constructed electrode is used for both formate oxidation reaction (FOR) and methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) in alkaline media. The electrochemical measurements suggest that the as-prepared electrodes exhibit high net oxidation current densities of 37.6 and 41.6 mA/cm2 at 1.5 V toward FOR and MOR, respectively, and show a satisfactory stability through chronoamperometric tests. These results demonstrate that the constructed electrodes through a facile pathway are promising to serve as high-efficient 3D binder-free electrodes for practical applications.