Corrected accelerated service life test of electrodeposited NiSn alloys and Ni as cathodes for industrial alkaline water electrolysis

Abstract

The “corrected accelerated service life test for hydrogen evolution reaction” (CASLT-HER), designed for application of certain electrode materials as cathodes in the cell for alkaline water electrolysis in 30 % KOH at 80 °C, was performed at electrodeposited NiSn alloy and Ni 40 mesh electrodes. The Ni 40 mesh was slightly etched, while the NiSn alloy coating was electrodeposited from the bath containing pyrophosphate, glycine, SnCl2 and NiCl2 onto Ni 40 mesh to the thickness of approximately 40 µm. It is shown that the NiSn cathode possess from maximum 0.77 V to minimum 0.30 V better overpotential than the Ni 40 mesh electrode during the 5 years of their exploitation at the conditions of industrial alkaline water electrolysis. It is also shown that both electrodes should be held at j = –0.3 A cm-2 for at least 5 h in order to establish stable overpotential response. The limiting overpotential values for applying cyclic voltammetry (CVs, to mimic “polarity inversion”) should be determined in a separate experiment before the CASLT-HER and should be adjusted during the application of CVs.