Nickel molybdate nanorods synthesized on carbon cloth as an electrocatalyst for methanol oxidation and hydrogen evolution reactions

Abstract

In this report, the nickel molybdate (NiMoO4) nanorods were grown on carbon cloth (CC) with an average length of 3 µm and a diameter of 130 nm. The NiMoO4/CC demonstrated a lower onset potential of 0.553 V vs. Hg/HgO at 10 mA/cm2 for methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). In addition, the electrocatalyst showed notable cyclic stability, where the onset potential attained 0.585 and 0.616 V vs. Hg/HgO at 10 mA/cm2 during the 250th and 1000th cycles, respectively. In the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), the NiMoO4/CC exhibited good performance with an overpotential of −0.517 V vs. RHE at 10 mA/cm2, the Tafel slope of 144 mV/dec, and a turnover frequency of 1.298H2/active site. The higher active sites (2.594 × 1017 cm2) and high electrochemical surface area (94.63 cm2) of NiMoO4/CC electrocatalyst exhibited stable and efficient MOR and HER performances.