Preparation and characterization of porous Ni-Mo alloy and its electrocatalytic performance for hydrogen evolution in filter-press type electrolyzer

Abstract

In the study, the device parameters for filter-press type electrolyzer including internal structure of unit cell, diaphragm, electrolyte temperature, pore number of nickel foam, and cathode were investigated. And the porous Ni-Mo alloy had been successfully prepared by a new method. The results of SEM, XRD, and UV spectrophotometry presented that the porous Ni-Mo alloys exhibited a three-dimensional network structure and were full of reticulate pore, having a considerably higher specific surface area, with NiMo and Ni4Mo mixed state when the Mo content of the porous Ni-Mo alloy coatings was 17.56 wt.%. The electrocatalytic performance for hydrogen evolution reaction of porous Ni-Mo alloy was also studied in 30 wt.% KOH using steady-state polarization and cell test. The results clearly demonstrated that the porous Ni-Mo alloy with 17.56 wt.% Mo content showed better and relative stable electrocatalytic performance for hydrogen evolution in a certain electrolysis time, which can be attributed to its chemical composition, porous structure, and specific surface area.