Preparation and evaluation of hydrogen electrode based on nickel nanoparticles on the graphene in water electrolysis

water electrolysis is one of the best methods for high purity Hydrogen (and Oxygen) production. Using nonprecious and durable electrocatalysts with low overpotential and high activity instead of noble metals as cathode is one of the most investigated subjects. In this project, Nickel nanoparticles have been grown on the reduced graphene oxide support and deposited on Nickel foam substrate to employ as HER catalyst. The structures of this catalyst were investigated by various techniques such as FT-IR, XRD, and SEM. These techniques showed that applied method for synthesis of a porous and homogeneous elctrocatalayst was successful. To evaluate the electrochemical behavior of this nanocatalyst, cyclic voltammetry and linear sweep voltammetry were applied. The electrocatalytic activity of Ni/rGO was improved after 500 CV cycles. The observed overpotential of Ni/rGO would be -281 mV at the current density of 10 mA cm-2 and Tafel slope of -126 mV dec-1. Whereas, these parameters for Ni/rGo after 5 CV cycles are -303 mV and -149 mV dec-1, respectively. Finally to study the performance of these nanoparticles in a real condition, an alkaline electrolysis cell was used. Ni/rGO exhibited the cell voltage of 1.9 V at the current density of 200 mA cm-2.