Benign synthesis of robust nickel thin films as stretchable electrodes for electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction

In this paper, we fabricate the nickel thin film on copper and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) polymer substrate by means of electroless deposition method and compare their hydrogen evolution reactions (HER). Ni deposited on both specimens reveals the preferred crystalline orientation of (111) plane and petal like topography. The HER activity and durability of the Ni electrode is investigated through linear sweep voltammetry and Tafel polarization studies. We measure the current density value of the first cycle at 350 mV vs. RHE and found that nickel deposited on the ABS polymer and a copper substrate exhibits the cathode current density of 29 and 4 mA cm−2 respectively. After 1000 cycles, 61% of HER activity has been retained in nickel deposited on the ABS polymer whereas nickel plated on the copper strip retains only 20% of HER activity. A small Tafel slope of 82 and 144 mV dec−1 is observed for nickel deposited on the ABS polymer and copper samples respectively.