Electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction on nano-nickel decorated graphene electrode

The quest for the replacement of noble metal electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) with lowest overpotential and Tafel slope is still a major challenge. In the present work new concept of earth abundant material like transition metals (Ni) are composed with graphene sheets as a catalyst to increase the rate of hydrogen production. The nickel nanoparticles are decorated uniformly on graphene sheets via electrophoretic deposition (EPD) method to enhance it's HER performance in alkaline solution. The composite is characterized by XRD, FTIR, XPS, SEM and TEM techniques. The composite shown improved HER performance with a low overpotential of 65 mV for 10 mA cm−2, a small Tafel slope of 54 mV dec−1 and longtime stability.