The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) was studied in 6 M KOH solution at temperatures ranging between 303 K and 353 K on a porous Ni-Fe-Mo-C-LaNi 5 electrode. By using steady-state polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), the surface roughness factor and the intrinsic activities of the porous Ni-Fe-Mo-C-LaNi 5 electrode have been determined. The Tafel slope of the best-performing porous Ni-Fe-Mo-C-LaNi 5 cathode materials is 140 mV dec À1, and the exchange current density is 9.9 Â 10À4 A cm À2 at elevated temperature. The roughness factor is 8600, which was obtained for the HER on studied electrodes in 6 M KOH solution at 323 K temperature using the EIS data and complex nonlinear least square (CNLS) approximation method. These techniques also permitted us to determine the mechanism and kinetics of the HER on the investigated electrode. The overall experimental data indicates that the porous Ni-Fe-Mo-C-LaNi 5 electrode yields electrocatalytic activity in the HER.Nevertheless, when the effect of the surface roughness is taken into consideration, it is demonstrated that alloying Ni with Fe, Mo, C and LaNi 5 results in an increased electrocatalytic activity in the HER when comparing to pure Ni. This is due to an improved intrinsic activity of the material, which is explained on the basis of the synergism among the catalytic properties of Ni and of Fe, Mo, and induced by C embedded into Ni-Fe matrix and Ni-Fe-Mo matrix. LaNi 5 enhances the H adsorption on the electrode surface and mainly plays a role of hydrogen storage for HER.

Dependence of the coating carbon layer configuration of cordierite monolith on reaction conditions in methane decomposition was investigated using N2 physisorption, SEM and TEM. The monolith surface area was increased after coating CNFs/CNTs. The microstructure of the coating layers in the coated monolith is dependent on the coating reaction conditions and the entanglement among CNFs/CNTs. High coating temperature and the presence of hydrogen in reaction gas for coating are advantageous to formation of CNTs. By comparison, coating layers of CNFs have better stability than that of CNTs in ultrasonic treatment.

The influence of the preparation conditions of the impregnation-vacuum filtration method was investigated systematically on the Ni dispersion and the activity of Ni-cordierite structured catalysts in hydrogenation of m-dinitrobenzene to m-phenylenediamine. H2-TPD measurement showed that the Ni dispersion has close relationship with the impregnation solution concentration of nickel nitrate, the impregnation time, the vacuum degree, the vacuum filtration time and the calcination temperature. The hydrogenation activity test and nitrogen physisorption investigation showed that the catalytic performance of Ni-cordierite is dependent upon the Ni dispersion and the chemisorption mode of m-dinitrobenzene on Ni particles.