The performance and corrosion resistance of an electrodeposited Ni-Mo-Cu HER catalyst

Abstract

This study presents a facile electrodeposition and annealing procedure for the fabrication of Ni-Mo-Cu catalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction. Cu addition augmented the surface area and conductivity, while the synergistic effect of the three elements enhanced the intrinsic catalytic activity. After annealing in a vacuum at 300 °C, a dense Cu-Ni solid solution was formed on the catalyst surface, which improved the distribution of components and led to a significant improvement in corrosion resistance. Compared to the directly deposited Ni-Mo catalyst, the annealed Ni-Mo-Cu catalyst exhibited a reduced overpotential of 143 mV to generate a current density of 10 mA cm−2 in 1 M KOH at 25 °C, and its corrosion current density diminished from 0.21 to 0.035 mA cm−2 in 0.5 M NaCl at 25 °C.