| Popis: |
The present study reports the enhanced electrocatalytic activity of Ni-Co alloy coatings due to addition of known quantity of carbon nanotube (CNT) into the bath. The Ni-Co-CNT composite coatings were electrodeposited on copper substrate from a sulphate bath, using glycerol as the additive. Electrocatalytic efficiency of the coatings, used as electrodes were tested for both Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in 1M KOH using cyclic voltametry and chronopotentiometric techniques. The experimental conditions were optimized to maximize the electrocatalytic activity of both Ni-Co and Ni-Co-CNT coatings for HER and OER. The experimental results revealed that Ni-Co-CNT coatings deposited at high current densities are more favorable for OER and HER, compared to bare Ni-Co coatings deposited from same bath, under same condition. The substantial improvement in the electrocatalytic activity of Ni-Co-CNT composite coatings was attributed to increased porosity due to addition of CNT. The structure-property relationship of both Ni-Co and Ni-Co-CNT alloy coatings for HER and OER were used to explain the role of CNT in enhancing electrocatalytic activity, with the support of XRD, SEM and EDX analyses. |
