Investigation of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) of Ni- Cu- Fe alloy coating as an efficient electrocatalyst

In this research, pure Ni, Ni-Cu and Ni-Cu-Fe coatings were produced as electrocatalyst material using electrodeposition method for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction were used to examine the morphology and structure of the deposited coatings, respectively. The electrocatalytic behavior of the produced coatings in 1M KOH solution was investigated by cyclic voltammetry, linear scanning voltammetry and electrochemical impedance tests. The results showed that the surface morphology changed from pyramidal and cauliflower state in pure Ni and Ni-Cu coatings respectively to micro/nano-cone state in Ni-Cu-Fe coating, respectively. The presence of Fe improved the electrocatalytic behavior by changing the electronic structure and changing the morphology of the coating surface. The best electrocatalytic behavior was obtained in the Ni-Cu-Fe coating, requires overpotential of 195 mV at a current density of 10 mA/Cm2 for the hydrogen production reaction. The Tafel slope of this coating was measured 69.4 mV.dec-1 . Also, the highest electrochemically active surface was related to this coating. This research introduces a practical and effective method to produce an electrocatalyst material with appropriate behavior.