Electrodeposited Ni-P alloy thin films for alkaline water splitting reaction

Abstract

Ni-P alloy thin films was developed as a robust electrode material for alkaline water splitting for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), through electrodeposition technique. The influence of alloy composition, achieved through induced codeposition of the reluctant non-metal, i.e. phosphorous (P) on its electrocatalytic activity was studied, and arrived at the best composition of alloy for HER and OER. The water splitting efficacy of the alloy films was tested in 1.0 M KOH using electrochemical methods such as cyclic voltammetry and chronopotentiometry. The experimental observation shows that the alloy thin film with 9.0 wt.% of P and 4.2 wt.% of P are the best electrode materials for HER and OER, respectively. The electrocatalytic performance of alloy films towards HER and OER were related to its surface topography, composition and crystal structure through field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses, respectively. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.