Ni–B amorphous alloy nanoparticles modified nanoporous Cu toward ethanol oxidation in alkaline medium

Abstract

Nanoporous Cu (NPC) prepared by dealloying CuZn alloy is used as an economic substrate for the fabrication of Ni–B alloy (Ni–B/NPC) by ultrasonic-assisted electroless technique. The results of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) demonstrate the NPC has a bicontinuous network structure and the Ni–B/NPC alloy is amorphous structure with highly dispersed nanoparticles. Electrochemical performances are measured by cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry (CA) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV). The results suggest that the Ni–B/NPC electrode prepared for 5 min shows the highest electrochemical activity and its redox species coverage and proton diffusion coefficient are remarkably improved compared with the bulk Ni. Ethanol oxidation at the Ni–B/NPC electrode suggests the onset oxidation potential has a negative shift of 52 mV and the oxidation peak current increases by 19.4 times, and apparent activation energy decreases 4.75–30.60 kJ mol−1 at the same potential, in comparison with the bulk Ni. Additionally, the reaction rate constant for ethanol oxidation at the Ni–B/NPC electrode is improved by about one order of magnitude relative to the reported value. Finally, the Ni–B/NPC electrode has a stable redox behavior after complete activation and superior catalytic stability for ethanol oxidation.