Microstructure and hydrogen evolution catalytic properties of Ni-Sn alloys prepared by electrodeposition method

• Ni-Sn alloys have been prepared on 40 mesh nickel net substrates by potentiostatic electrodeposition technique.
• The XRD results confirm the existence of Ni3Sn2 pure phases in the deposited Ni-Sn alloys.
• The Ni-Sn alloys possess high activity and long-term stability as HER catalysts under alkaline condition.
• The cell voltage of water electrolyser can be reduced by 10% using the Ni-Sn alloys to replace the Raney-Ni electrodes.

Ni-Sn alloys have been prepared by electrodeposition technique on nickel net substrates from pyrophosphoric acid solution system. The morphology, chemical compositions and catalytic properties for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) of the Ni-Sn alloys are found to be sensitive to the electrodepositing potentials, while the crystalline phases of the electrodeposits are almost unchanged regardless of the potentials according to the X-ray diffraction (XRD) results. The Ni-Sn alloy deposited at −1.5 V exhibits the hydrogen overpotential of 161 mV when the polarization current density of 300 mA cm−2 at 25 °C, which is lower than that of 341 mV for the Raney-Ni electrode. In addition, the Ni-Sn alloy shows high durability in 30 wt% KOH solution for at least 3 months. The results imply that the deposited Ni-Sn alloys can be applied in practical as cathode in industrial water electrolyzer.

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