Modification of carbon-metal composites using high-energy ball milling

•Carbon–nickel–palladium composites were active in 6 M KOH aqueous solution.•HEBM of C–Ni–Pd composite resulted in changes in the structural properties.•HEBM of the composite brought about an improvement of the electrochemical activity.

A resorcinol-formaldehyde–nickel–palladium (RF–Ni–Pd) hydrogels were synthesized by sol–gel polycondensation followed by ambient drying. Carbon–nickel–palladium doped gels (C–Ni–Pd) were prepared by carbonising the RF–Ni–Pd gels at 900 °C in a nitrogen atmosphere. The goal of this study was to determine the effect of high-energy ball milling (HEBM) on the electrochemical activity of C–Ni–Pd composite. The scanning electron microscopy analysis, adsorption and X-ray diffraction measurements showed that the HEBM of C–Ni–Pd composite resulted in the modification of the morphological, porous and crystalline features of the carbon matrix. It has been demonstrated that composite C–Ni–Pd composed of sphere-like granules incrusted with well-crystalline nickel and palladium particles exhibits electrochemical activity in 6 M KOH aqueous solution. High-energy ball milling of the composite brought about the improvement of electrochemical activity in the potential range of the hydrogen sorption/desorption reaction.

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