Microwave assisted synthesis and characterization of Ni/NiO nanoparticles as electrocatalyst for methanol oxidation in alkaline solution

Abstract

Nickel/Nickel oxide (Ni/NiO) nanoparticles catalyst is prepared by microwave-assisted liquid-phase deposition using ethylene glycol (EG) and water mixture under atmospheric conditions. The physicochemical characterizations of the catalyst carried out by surface area analyzer, x-ray diffraction (XRD), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), electron microscopes measurements suggest the formation of crystalline nanoparticles structure of NiO. The surface area of Ni/NiO prepared using EG/water mixture reaches 70 m2 g−1 which is 2-fold enhsancement in surface area in comparison with NiO prepared in pure EG and an order of magnitude higher than that of bulk nickel prepared in pure water. The methanol electro-oxidation activity of the Ni/NiO nanoparticles obtained in EG/water mixture displayed more than 4-fold increase in oxidation current at 1.7 V versus RHE in comparison with NiO nanoparticles obtained in EG and 20-fold increase compared to bulk nickel catalyst concord with the enhancement of electro-active surface area. The results show the Ni/NiO nanoparticles produced by microwave assisted synthesis has superior activity for methanol oxidation in alkaline solution over the other nickel based catalysts and has potential for mass production.