Three-dimensional porous Ni film electrodeposited on Ni foam: High performance and low-cost catalytic electrode for H2O2 electrooxidation in KOH solution
Introduction
Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) can be used as both a carbon-free energy carrier and a strong oxidant in a novel fuel cell, namely direct peroxide–peroxide fuel cell (DPPFC) [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9]. DPPFC exhibits several advantages comparing to other types of liquid-feed direct fuel cells (e.g., direct methanol fuel cell, direct borohydride fuel cell, direct formic acid fuel cell) [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17], such as, low cost, compact, easy operation, workable without air, and providing both power and oxygen. So it is a very promising underwater and space power source. Besides, both the anode and the cathode reactions have fast kinetics and involve no poisoning species, which allows the use of non-Pt electrocatalysts.
H2O2 as the fuel of DPPFC is electrooxidated in H2O2-containing KOH solution at the anode catalyst [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8] (Eq. (1)).HO2− + OH− → O2 + H2O + 2e− E0 = 0.146 V
Clearly, the anode works in a strong oxidizing alkaline solution, which requires that the anode must be stable in such a harsh environment. In general, carbon-supported powder electrocatalysts are commonly used in fuel cells. The electrodes using these powder electrocatalysts were usually fabricated by binding the powder electrocatalysts onto carbon paper using organic polymer binders. However, carbon can be slowly oxidized and binders can be gradually degraded in the harsh H2O2 + KOH solution, which will lead to deactivation of electrodes. Therefore, the conventional fuel cell electrodes cannot sustain the working environment of DPPFC. On the other hand, since O2 was continuously produced at the anode of DPPFC, the anode should have a porous structure to allow O2 quickly diffusing away from the electrode to regenerate the catalytic active sites.
Recently, Ni foam has been studied as the anode in a direct borohydride fuel cell due to its three-dimensional (3D) open porous structure and good stability in alkaline electrolyte [18]. However, its low number of active sites limited its catalytic performance even though it shows good mass transport property. Carbon supported nickel has been investigated as the anode electrocatalyst of DPPFCs because of its low-cost and no catalysis to H2O2 decomposition [3]. In this study, we reported a Ni foam supported Ni particle electrode (Ni/Ni-foam) for H2O2 electrooxidation in KOH solution. The electrode was prepared by simple electrodeposition of Ni particles onto Ni foam using hydrogen bubble as the template [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24], [25]. In this way, a 3D porous all-metal electrode having larger surface area, excellent mass transport property and long term stability was obtained.
Section snippets
Experimental
The Ni/Ni-foam electrode was prepared by electro-depositing a porous Ni film on Ni foam using hydrogen bubble as template (Scheme 1). The deposition was performed in a three-electrode electrochemical cell with nickel foam working electrode, platinum foil counter electrodes and saturated Ag/AgCl (3 mol L−1 KCl) reference electrode using 2.0 mol L−1 NH4Cl and 0.1 mol L−1 NiCl2 as the deposition solution. The electrode was obtained by applying a constant current of −2.0 A cm−2 (−3.0 V ± 0.2 V) for 100 s via a
Characterization of the Ni/Ni-foam electrode
The 3D porous nano-Ni film is successfully prepared by a facile cathodic electrodeposition accompanying hydrogen evolution template. The Ni film exhibited a 3D porous structure consisting of interconnected micro-particles which attached on the entire surface of Ni foam substrate (Fig. 2A–C). The Ni/Ni-foam electrode has a larger surface area than Ni foam substrate. The Ni particle surfaces are easy accessible to H2O2 and electrolytes due to the existence of voids among particles, which enable a
Conclusions
A novel carbon-free all-metal nickel anode for DPPFC has been successfully prepared by forming a porous 3D Ni microstructure on Ni foam via a simple electrochemical method. The electrode demonstrated higher catalytic activity toward H2O2 electrooxidation than the state-of-the-art Pd/CFC electrode and exhibited excellent stability in harsh alkaline electrolyte. The DPPFC with the Ni/Ni-foam anode displayed a peak power density of 19.4 mW cm−2 at 20 °C. The high catalytic performance and the low
Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of this research by National Nature Science Foundation of China and Harbin Science and Technology Innovation Fund for Excellent Academic Leaders (2012RFXXG103).
References (33)
- et al.
Analysis of membraneless microfuel cell using decomposition of hydrogen peroxide in a Y-shaped microchannel
Electrochimica Acta
(2007) Can aqueous hydrogen peroxide be used as a stand-alone energy source?
International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
(2010)- et al.
Response to Disselkamp: direct peroxide/peroxide fuel cell as a novel type fuel cell
International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
(2011) - et al.
A fuel cell with selective electrocatalysts using hydrogen peroxide as both an electron acceptor and a fuel
Journal of Power Sources
(2008) - et al.
Direct peroxide–peroxide fuel cell. Part 1: The anode and cathode catalyst of carbon fiber cloth supported dendritic Pd
Journal of Power Sources
(2012) - et al.
Direct peroxide–peroxide fuel cell. Part 2: Effects of conditions on the performance
Journal of Power Sources
(2012) - et al.
Development of high-performance planar borohydride fuel cell modules for portable applications
Journal of Power Sources
(2008) - et al.
Hydrogen storage alloys as the anode materials of the direct borohydride fuel cell
Journal of Alloys and Compounds
(2008) - et al.
Improving the direct borohydride fuel cell performance with thiourea as the additive in the sodium borohydride solution
International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
(2010) - et al.
Hydrazine/air direct-liquid fuel cell based on nanostructured copper anodes
Journal of Power Sources
(2012)
Highly efficient and stable nonplatinum anode catalyst with Au@Pd core–shell nanostructures for methanol electrooxidation
Journal of Catalysis
Poisoning and regeneration of Pd catalyst in direct formic acid fuel cell
Electrochimica Acta
Double-template fabrication of three-dimensional porous nickel electrodes for hydrogen evolution reaction
International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
Electrodeposition of three-dimensional porous silver foams
Electrochemistry Communications
Hydrogen bubble dynamic template synthesis of porous gold for nonenzymatic electrochemical detection of glucose
Electrochemistry Communications
Preparation of copper foam with 3-dimensionally interconnected spherical pore network by electrodeposition
Electrochemistry Communications
Cited by (59)
Preparation of Co-S/Ni<inf>x</inf>Se<inf>y</inf>/C@TiO<inf>2</inf> composite electrode and the performance improvement strategies for the electrooxidation of H<inf>2</inf>O<inf>2</inf>
2023, Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical EngineersA novel graphite modified paper based cobalt-cobalt oxalate-nickel electrode for the electrooxidation of hydrogen peroxide
2022, International Journal of Hydrogen EnergyBenchmarking of oxygen evolution catalysts on porous nickel supports
2021, JouleCitation Excerpt :The NF support used in this study benefits from a relatively high ECSA of approximately 15 cm2 cmgeo−2 (per geometric square centimeter), estimated by using the CDL measurement for NF and a CS measurement for a Ni plate electrode (Figure S25). In order to further increase the surface area of this support, we used a straightforward method for the electrodeposition of nickel dendrites on NF.71 The deposition of the metallic branched structures in the presence of protons at very high current density generates H2 bubbles at the surface of the electrode, creating a porous dendritic morphology (Figures 4A and S26).
Vertical Nickel–Iron layered double hydroxide nanosheets grown on hills-like nickel framework for efficient water oxidation and splitting
2020, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy