Nickel nanoparticles supported on carbon surface as an electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction

Abstract

MOFs derived metals composites are good electrocatalyst for energy storage and conversion process. A synthesis of Ni composite with carbon (Ni/C) is formed by calcination of Ni-MOF at 600 °C and it's characterised with XRD, FE-SEM, FTIR and BET. After calcination, the derived Ni composite shows a lower crystalline size, high porosity and high surface area as compared to Ni-MOF. The derived material is used as an electrode for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER) and it is carried out by Cyclic voltammetry (CV), Electrochemical impedance analysis (EIS) and Linear Sweep Voltammetry (LSV) in alkaline medium. The derived Ni/C shows a lowest Tafel slope of 61.56 mV/dec with an overpotential of 213.2 mV due to the surface area and accessible catalytic active sites which provides excellent mass transfer properties for derived Ni/C composite.