Studies on the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction on Fe-CoNi/Stainless Steel Electrode

Abstract

The Fe, Co and Ni metals were coated onto stainless steel substrat under various compositions in a linear voltammetric to prepare Fe (1-5)-Co-Ni/s electrocatalyst electrodes with stainless steel as working electrode, Ag/AgCl as a reference electrode and platinum as an auxiliary electrode. The integer number (1 to 5) after the Fe metal shown the percentage of Fe content (wt.%) on the Fe1-5-Co-Ni/s electrodes 57.09, 61.96, 68.07, 71.81 and 74.71 wt.%. The composition of stainless steel substrat before coating is determined by SEM-EDAX. The Characters of Fe1-5-Co-Ni/s as electrocatalyst electrodes were determined by linear and cyclic voltammetric methods and SEM-EDAX method. The voltammetric methods studied electrochemical behavior, and SEM-EDAX method studied electrode surface morfology and determine semiquantitative elemental composition. The Fe1-5-Co-Ni/s electrodes had been applied for water electrolysis in base solution by adding 1-5 gram of NaHCO 3 in one liter water. The study of SEM-EDAX conducted that the higher of Fe content the lower of activity. Before coating the amount of Ni was not detected. The present of Ni after coating was detected by SEM-EDAX. The voltammetric data showed that coating of ternary metal of Fe, Co and Ni onto stainless steel substrat have been able to enhanced the rate of the reaction of hydrogen evolution. The Fe1-Co-Ni/s electrocatalyst electrode (the amount of Fe, Co and Ni was 57.09, 0.22 and 0.74 wt.% respectivelly) is the most active catalyst for water electrolysis in base solution of 5 gram of NaHCO 3 in one liter water.