High-performance metal/particle catalytic coatings for hydrogen generation from alkaline water splitting

Water electrolysis is a promising option for addressing global energy needs, as it allows hydrogen production as a clean and renewable fuel. However, this process requires the development of efficient and cost-effective catalysts to optimize hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions. This work proposes the development of different coatings by the electrodeposition technique on AISI 304 stainless steel electrodes for efficient water electrolysis. The addition of catalytic particulate material to electrodeposited nickel coatings enables the reduction of overpotentials for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), showing good catalytic activity in alkaline water splitting compared to the Ni–P matrix. For the NiFeOOH and NiFe-LDH coatings, low overpotentials of 278 and 249 mV at 10 mAcm⁻², respectively, were obtained for OER. Meanwhile, for the CuB and FeB coatings, low overpotential values of 75 and 98 mV were obtained at − 10 mAcm⁻² for HER. The addition of catalytic particles promotes an increase in the electroactive area of the coatings, as well as the formation of metal oxides, hydroxides, and oxyhydroxides, which significantly enhances their catalytic activity. Finally, the evaluated electrodes (CuB, FeB, NiFe-LDH, and NiFeOOH) exhibit good stability for 80 h at a high current density of ± 400 mA cm⁻².

Graphical abstract