Faculty Publications
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Item Morphological and structural characterisation of sol-gel electrospun Co3O4 nanofibres and their electro-catalytic behaviour(Royal Society of Chemistry, 2015) George, G.; Elias, L.; Hegde, A.C.; Anandhan, S.Evolution of hydrogen and oxygen are a crucial part of many renewable energy systems. The replacement of the essential and expensive components in such systems can reduce the capital cost and improve the effectiveness of those systems. In this study, Co3O4 nanofibres were fabricated from sol-gel assisted electrospun poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile)/cobalt acetate tetrahydrate precursor composite fibres. The morphological and compositional features of the Co3O4 nanofibres obtained after calcination of the precursor nanofibers were studied using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results of X-ray diffraction study and Raman spectroscopy revealed that the average grain size of the fibres increased with the calcination temperature. Clear evidence of defects in the fibres was observed in ultraviolet-visible-near infrared and energy dispersive spectroscopic measurements. The electrocatalytic behaviour of Co3O4 nanofibres obtained at different calcination temperatures was studied using them for the water splitting reaction in an alkaline medium. The maximum efficiency in the hydrogen evolution reaction was achieved using the Co3O4 nanofibres obtained at the lowest calcination temperature, which had the highest surface area and the smallest grain size. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2015.Item Electrolytic Synthesis and Characterization of Electrocatalytic Ni-W Alloy(Springer New York LLC barbara.b.bertram@gsk.com, 2015) Elias, L.; Scott, K.; Hegde, A.Inspired by the more positive (about 0.38 V nobler) discharge potential of hydrogen on Ni-W alloy compared to that on both Ni and W, a Ni-W alloy has been developed electrolytically as an efficient electrode material for water electrolysis. The deposition conditions, for peak performance of the electrodeposits for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in 1.0 M KOH medium have been optimized. Electrocatalytic activity of the coatings, deposited at different current densities (c.d.’s) for water splitting reactions of HER and OER was tested by cyclic voltammetry and chronopotentiometry. It was found that Ni-W alloys deposited, at 4.0 A/dm2 (having about 12.49 wt.% W) and 1.0 A/dm2 (having about 0.95 wt.% W) are good electrode materials as cathode (for HER) and anode (for OER), respectively. A dependency of the electrocatalytic activity for HER and OER with relative amount of Ni and W, in the deposit was found. The variation of electrocatalytic activity with W content showed the existence of a synergism between high-catalytic property of W (due to low hydrogen overvoltage) and Ni (having increased adsorption of OH? ions), for hydrogen (as cathode) and oxygen (as anode) evolution, respectively. Electrocatalytic activities of the coatings, developed at different c.d.’s were explained in the light of their phase structure, surface morphology, and chemical composition, confirmed by XRD, FESEM, and EDX analysis. The effect of c.d. on thickness, hardness, composition, HER, and OER was analyzed, and results were discussed with possible mechanisms. © 2015, ASM International.Item Modification of Ni-P alloy coatings for better hydrogen production by electrochemical dissolution and TiO2 nanoparticles(Royal Society of Chemistry, 2016) Elias, L.; Hegde, A.This work reports the modification of Ni-P alloy coatings for better hydrogen production by electrochemical dissolution and TiO2 nanoparticle incorporation. The first part is devoted to optimization of a new citrate bath for the development of an efficient electroactive Ni-P electrode material by electrodeposition, using glycerol as an additive. The Ni-P alloys developed at 4.0 A dm-2 and 2.0 A dm-2 were found to be good for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), respectively as demonstrated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronopotentiometry (CP) methods. The Ni-P alloy showing good catalytic activity for HER is found to be less active for OER and vice versa. The unique electrocatalytic property of the coatings was attributed to its structure, morphology and composition, confirmed by XRD, SEM and EDS analyses. In the second part, the electrocatalytic activity of Ni-P alloy coatings for HER has been improved further by anodic dissolution and TiO2 nanoparticle incorporation. Drastic improvement in the electrocatalytic activity for HER was found in both anodically treated and Ni-P-TiO2 composite coatings, compared to as-coated Ni-P alloys. The highest electrocatalytic character of the Ni-P-TiO2 composite coating was attributed to a greater number of electroactive centres, affected by TiO2 nanoparticle incorporation, and experimental results are discussed. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2016.Item Magnetoelectrodeposition of Ni-W alloy coatings for enhanced hydrogen evolution reaction(Royal Society of Chemistry, 2016) Elias, L.; Cao, P.; Hegde, A.The electrocatalytic efficiency of electrodeposited (ED) Ni-W alloy coatings for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) has been improved drastically through magnetoelectrodeposition (MED) approach. Ni-W alloy coatings have been developed under different conditions of magnetic field intensity 'B' (applied perpendicular in the range of 0.1-0.4 T), and their electrocatalytic activity for the HER has been tested using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronopotentiometry (CP) techniques in 1.0 M KOH solution. A drastic improvement in the electrocatalytic behavior of the MED coating, represented as (Ni-W)B=0.2 T was found as compared to its conventional Ni-W alloy coatings. Improved performance of the MED coatings was explained on the basis of differences in the process of electrocrystallization affected due to the applied magnetic field, supported by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses. A magnetic field has been used advantageously for the first time to increase the W content of the alloy. Increased activity of the MED coatings was attributed to the increased W content in the alloy, characterized by the unique (220) reflection, explained by the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) effect due to Lorentz force. © 2016 The Royal Society of Chemistry.Item Synthesis and characterization of Ni-P-Ag composite coating as efficient electrocatalyst for alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction(Elsevier Ltd, 2016) Elias, L.; Hegde, A.C.The effect of addition of silver nanoparticle sol (SNS) into Ni-P plating bath was studied in terms of the variation in electrocatalytic behavior of the developed coatings in 1.0 M KOH. Ni-P-Ag composite coating was achieved through direct electrolysis by adding a known quantity of the conventionally prepared SNS into Ni-P bath. Ni-P-Ag coatings electrodeposited galvanostatically on copper under different conditions of the bath was used as electrode material for alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The optimal concentration of the SNS required for maximum electrocatalytic activity towards HER was obtained by adding different volumes of SNS (from 0 to 50 mL L?1) into the bath. The HER efficiency of the test electrodes in 1.0 M KOH medium was examined using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronopotentiometry (CP) techniques. The kinetics of HER on the alloy and composite electrodes were established through Tafel polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analyses. Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) was used to confirm the incorporation of Ag nanoparticles into the Ni-P alloy matrix. The microstructure and morphology of the alloy and composite coatings were analyzed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). A significant improvement in the electrocatalytic property of nano-Ag derived composite coatings was found, and was attributed to the enhanced electroactive sites of Ag particles. Deposition conditions to maximize the electrocatalytic activity of Ni-P-Ag nanocomposite coatings in relation to traditional Ni-P alloy coatings was arrived, and results are discussed. © 2016Item Synthesis of effective electrocatalyst for water splitting application from simple Cu-Ni bath(Allerton Press Incorporation journals@allertonpress.com, 2017) Elias, L.; Banjan, R.U.; Hegde, A.C.Electrocatalytically active Cu-Ni alloy coatings have been developed from a simple electrolyte having only Cu+2 and Ni+2 ions, without the use of any additive. Electrocatalytic character of the coatings was tested for their hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in 1.0 M KOH medium, alongside with their corrosion behaviours. Cyclic voltammetry and chronopotentio-metry study revealed that the deposition current density has a prominent role on the alkaline water splitting behaviour of the coatings, depending on their phase structure, composition and surface morphology. It was found that the c.d. has an inverse dependence on HER and OER. The Cu-Ni alloy coatings developed, respectively at 3.0 and 4.0 A dm–2, were found to be the best coatings for HER and OER, depending on the surface morphology. The electrocatalytic activity of Cu-Ni alloy coating for HER, deposited at 3.0 A dm–2 (optimal), was further improved through electrochemical dissolution of the as-deposited coating. The increase in the electrocatalytic activity for HER has been attributed to the enhancement in the exposed surface area of Ni active sites due to the leaching of Cu from the alloy matrices, evidenced by the energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The dependencies of HER and OER on to the surface of Cu-Ni alloy coatings were analysed in terms of deposition c.d. of the coatings, and the results are discussed. © 2017, Allerton Press, Inc.Item Electrolytic Synthesis of Ni-W-MWCNT Composite Coating for Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution Reaction(Springer New York LLC barbara.b.bertram@gsk.com, 2018) Elias, L.; Hegde, A.C.Nickel–tungsten multi-walled carbon nanotube (Ni-W-MWCNT) composite films were fabricated by an electrodeposition technique, and their electrocatalytic activity toward hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) was studied. Ni-W-MWCNT composite films with a homogeneous dispersion of MWCNTs were deposited from an optimal Ni-W plating bath containing functionalized MWCNTs, under galvanostatic condition. The presence of functionalized MWCNT was found to enhance the induced codeposition of the reluctant metal W and resulted in a W-rich composite coating with improved properties. The electrocatalytic behaviors of Ni-W-MWCNT composite coating toward HER were studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronopotentiometry techniques in 1.0 M KOH medium. Further, Tafel polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) studies were carried out to establish the kinetics of HER on the alloy and composite electrodes. The experimental results revealed that the addition of MWCNTs (having a diameter of around 10-15 nm) into the alloy plating bath has a significant effect on the electrocatalytic behavior of Ni-W alloy deposit. The Ni-W-MWCNT composite coating was found to show better HER activity than the conventional Ni-W alloy coating. The enhanced electrocatalytic activity of Ni-W-MWCNT composite coating is attributed to the MWCNT intersticed in the deposit matrix, evidenced by surface morphology, composition and phase structure of the coating through SEM, EDS and XRD analyses, respectively. © 2018, ASM International.Item Effect of TiO2 nanoparticles on hydrogen evolution reaction activity of Ni coatings(University of Science and Technology Beijing, 2018) Kullaiah, R.; Elias, L.; Hegde, A.C.The electrocatalytic activity of electrodeposited Ni and Ni–TiO2 coatings with regard to the alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) was investigated. The Ni coatings were electrodeposited from an acid chloride bath at different current densities, and their HER activities were examined in a 1.0-mol·L-1 KOH medium. The variations in the HER activity of the Ni coatings with changes in surface morphology and composition were examined via the electrochemical dissolution and incorporation of nanoparticles. Electrochemical analysis methods were used to monitor the HER activity of the test electrodes; this activity was confirmed via the quantification of gases that evolved during the analysis. The obtained results demonstrated that the Ni–TiO2 nanocomposite test electrode exhibited maximum activity toward the alkaline HER. The surface appearance, composition, and the phase structure of all developed coatings were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. The improvement in the electrocatalytic activity of Ni–TiO2 nanocomposite coating toward HER was attributed to the variation in surface morphology and increased number of active sites. © 2018, University of Science and Technology Beijing and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.