Stability of 3D-porous Ni/Cu cathodes under real alkaline electrolyzer operating conditions and its effect on catalytic activity

Abstract

Despite the development and synthesis of new electrode materials for hydrogen generation in alkaline water electrolyzers has been a research topic widely exploited in the last years, stability tests on the obtained cathodes have been restricted to long-term potentiostatic/galvanostatic experiments which do not fulfil the real operating conditions that take place in those devices. In this work, two different Service Life Tests have been designed and implemented, aiming at including particular conditions (i.e. inverse polarity and short-circuit) in the durability and catalytic activity of cathode characterization. For this purpose, Ni/Cu bilayered porous electrodes were prepared using different Ni electrodeposition times (15, 30 and 45 min) following a double template electrochemical method. It has been confirmed that the electrode with the lowest Ni content can be considered as a promising electrocatalyst for hydrogen production under industrial conditions because of its optimal activity and stability after the two sets of testing conditions. In particular, electrochemical studies demonstrated that an inversion in polarity can positively affect the electrode performance, as a consequence of the synergetic interaction between CuO/Cu(OH)2 and β-Ni(OH)2 species formed at potentials below the oxygen evolution domain.