Electro-catalytic activity of Ni–Co-based catalysts for oxygen evolution reaction

• Ni–Co-based electro-catalysts for OER have been studied and compared.
• The real electrode area is calculated and used for assessing the electro-catalysts.
• Exchange current and reaction rate constant are estimated.
• Ni is more useful for OER reaction than Co.

In the present work, Ni–Co-based electrocatalysts (Ni/Co = 0:6, 1:5, 2:4, 3:3, 4:2, 5:1 and 6:0) have been studied for oxygen evolution reaction. The phase structure has been analyzed by X-ray diffraction technique. Based on the XRD and SEM results, it is believed that the synthesized products are poorly crystallized. To exclude the disturbance of electrode preparation technology on the evaluation of electro-catalytic activity, the real electrode surface area is calculated based on the cyclic voltammetry data, assumed that the specific surface capacitance is 60 μF cm−2 for metal oxide electrode. The real electrode area data are used to calculate the current density. The reaction rate constant of OER at different electrodes is also estimated based on basic reaction kinetic equations. It is found that the exchange current is 0.05–0.47 mA cm−2 (the real surface area), and the reaction rate constant has an order of magnitude of 10−7–10−6 cm s−1. The influence of the electrode potential on OER rate has been also studied by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) technique. Our investigation has shown that the nickel element has more contribution than the cobalt; the nickel oxide has the best electro-catalytic activity toward OER.

The electro-catalytic activity of different electro-catalysts with a porous electrode structure was compared considering the real electrode area that was evaluated by cyclic measurement.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide