High-efficiency and stable alloyed nickel based electrodes for hydrogen evolution by seawater splitting

Hydrogen is regarded as a highly efficient and clean renewable energy source. However, the high cost of preferred platinum catalysts becomes an economic burden for its commercial applications. Therefore, the development of cost-effective and robust catalysts, having superior catalytic activity toward hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), is a prerequisite to realize large-scale hydrogen production. We present here a simple electrodeposition strategy of building nickel based alloy catalysts (NiM, M = Co, Cu, Mo, Au, Pt) on titanium (Ti) foils, which are subsequently utilized for catalyzing HER by seawater splitting. The preliminary results demonstrate that the Ti/NiCo and Ti/NiCo electrodes have superior catalytic activity for HER in seawater. All the Ti/NiM electrodes show relatively good long-term stability at −1.0 V vs. RHE over 10 h. The high efficiency and reasonable stability of the alloy catalysts demonstrate promising applications in the rising hydrogen revolution.