Performance of Co–Co(OH)2 coated nickel foam as catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction under industrially relevant conditions

Abstract

In the present work, we employed a customised electrolyser test cell to quantify the electrocatalytic activity of a high-performing Co–Co(OH)2/nickel foam electrocatalyst, towards the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) under industrial-relevant alkaline electrolysis conditions. The Co–Co(OH)2 electrocatalyst was synthesized by a wet chemical deposition route followed by thermal decomposition, fully covering the nickel foam support. In conventional 3-electrode tests, the synthesized Co–Co(OH)2 electrocatalyst revealed a 78 mV overpotential at 10 mA cm−2 exhibiting a promising performance compared to the 290 mV measured for pristine nickel foam. Further testing under industrial-relevant conditions with a customised electrolyser cell configuration proves that the electrocatalysts lower the cell potential by 200 mV at 200 mA cm−2 compared to pristine nickel foam after 118 h of electrochemical measurements at 80 °C using a 30 wt% KOH electrolyte solution. These findings indicate that the high performance achieved for the Co–Co(OH)2 electrocatalyst could potentially be translated to industrial-relevant environments.