This work deals with selected aspects of the formation of intermetallic phases and the occurrence of a synergistic effect in the electrochemical process taking place at such electrode materials. A comparison of the catalytic activity of a variety of metals and intermetallic compounds in the reaction of hydrogen electroevolution and absorption was carried out. It has been found that the catalytic activity of such combinations is much higher than the activity of their individual components and quite often also of precious metals. This paper is also aimed at understanding the electrocatalytic properties of electrodes based on the concept of “activity descriptors”. What is also discussed is the ability of different metals and intermetallic compounds to store hydrogen.

Recently, many efforts have been made to develop new anode materials able to catalyze the oxygen electroevolution reaction (OER). This review summarizes recent work undertaken on production and electroactivity of practical anode materials for an alkaline water electrolysis. Examples of mixed oxides with ABO3perovskite-type structure, metal compounds crystallizing in the spinel structure, electrolytic coatings of nickel alloys, as well as amorphous nickel-and cobalt-based electrolytic composite coatings, have been presented. The effect of the phase composition of the anode material on its activity in the OER, has also been discussed.

The work concerns the literature review which unambiguously shows that the composite coatings which apart from thed-electron metal powder contain another component of the composite, i.e. thep-electron metal powder, have not been obtained so far. This kind of qualitative composition of the coating enables selective extraction of thep-electron metal from the nickel matrix of the composite, as well as – after heat treatment – results in the formation of the mixture of intermetallic phases with the hitherto unknown activity in the electrochemical processes.

The Ni+Al+Ti composite coatings were prepared by the electrodeposition under the galvanostatic conditions at the deposition current denisty ofjdep= -225 mA cm-2. Phase composition investigations were conducted by X-ray diffraction (XRD) method. The surface morphology, cross-section and chemical composition of the coatings were examined using a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), respectively. Thermal treatment of the obtained composite coatings was conducted in argon atmosphere at the temperature of 800oC for 12 h. It was found that the as-deposited Ni+28at.%Al+25at.%Ti composite coating is a three-phase material (Ni, Al and Ti phases). The thermal treatment caused the chemical reaction in solid state of the heated coating, and a new multi-phase material was formed containing Ni and Al metallic phases as well as NiAl, Ni2Al3, Ni3Al, NiTi, NiTi2and Ni3Ti intermetallic phases. Thus obtained composite coatings may be useful in the applications as materials in the electrochemical processes.