Hydrogen evolution reaction activity of porous Ni–Cu–Ti–V cathodes

Abstract

The preparation of non-precious metal cathodes with excellent performance in hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is a hot topic for achieving sustainable development. This study used four transition metals (Ni, Cu, Ti, and V) to prepare porous alloy cathode electrodes by the powder metallurgy method. Through a series of microstructural characterization and electrochemical measurements, it was found that the best performance of hydrogen evolution was achieved when the content of vanadium was 9%, based on maintaining the optimal ratio of Ni–Cu–Ti (5.5:3.5:1). Analysis of the reasons revealed that vanadium not only improves the surface roughness of the electrode and the active site but also can transfer electrons with each element to increase the electron cloud density of Ni and improve the catalytic activity of hydrogen evolution through a synergistic effect. However, when the vanadium content rises to a specific value, the impact of pore size on the hydrogen evolution performance also begins to take effect, making its hydrogen evolution activity decrease when the vanadium ratio is higher than 9%.