Ni-Ti3C2 MXene composite derived from Ni-metal organic framework for electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction in acidic and alkaline medium

Abstract

MOFs derived metal composites are found to be a potential electrocatalyst for energy storage and conversion process. In this work, Ni composite with MXene (Ni-Ti3C2) was synthesized by calcination of Ni-MOF at 650 °C and characterized by XRD, FE-SEM, FTIR and BET analysis. After calcination, the derived Ni composited Ti3C2 showed a high porosity and high surface area as compared to Ti3C2. The derived material was further used as electrode for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER) and tested by various electrochemical analysis viz. Cyclic voltammetry (CV), Electrochemical impedance analysis (EIS) and Linear Sweep Voltammetry (LSV) in alkaline medium. The derived Ni-Ti3C2 in basic medium displays a small Tafel value of 56.15 mV/dec with acquired voltage of 181.15 mV due to the surface area and accessible catalytic active sites, which provides excellent mass transfer properties for derived Ni-Ti3C2 composite in basic medium. The kinetics of the HER reaction was found better in Ni-Ti3C2 MXene composite in basic medium than in acidic medium. The charge transfer resistances were obtained from the EIS plot and were found to be 3.98 Ω and 2.34 Ω for Ti3C2 and Ni-Ti3C2 respectively in acidic medium and 3.12 Ω and 1.98 Ω in basic medium. The low resistance observed for Ni-Ti3C2 in basic medium proves a higher electrocatalytic activity in Ni-Ti3C2 than Ti3C2. The cyclic stability of the Ni-Ti3C2 in basic medium was higher than Ti3C2. Thus the overall results show that the prepared composite is a potential catalyst for HER applications.