Electrodeposition of magnetic, superhydrophobic, non-stick, two-phase Cu–Ni foam films and their enhanced performance for hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline water media

Abstract

Two-phase Cu-Ni magnetic metallic foams (MMFs) with tunable composition have been prepared by electrodeposition taking advantage of hydrogen co-evolution as a source of porosity. It is observed that Ni tends to deposit inside the porous network defined by the Cu building blocks. Contact angle measurements reveal that the prepared porous films show a remarkable superhydrophobicity (contact angle values larger than 150°) and a non-sticking property to aqueous droplets. This behavior is predominately ascribed to the morphology of the films - hierarchical micro/nanoporosity, wall thickness, and spatial arrangement. The electrochemical activity and stability towards hydrogen evolution reaction of the Cu-Ni MMFs has been investigated by cyclic voltammetry in 1 M KOH at 298 K, and the optimal Ni content is found to be 15 at%. Furthermore, all the foam-like films exhibit ferromagnetic behaviour due to the presence of the Ni-rich phase, with coercivity values ranging from 114 Oe to 300 Oe. From the technological point of view, the Cu-Ni MMFs are promising candidates for magnetically-actuated micro/nano-electromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS) and micro/nanorobotic platforms with a large surface-area to volume ratio or in magnetic sensors or separators.

Towards Versatile and Sustainable Hydrogen Production through Electrocatalytic Water Splitting: Electrolyte Engineering

“…A classic approach to developing an active electrode with earth‐abundant elements on the basis of the Sabatier principle is by mixing elements with lower and higher intermediate binding energies. A consistent example is Ni−Cu, which shows a greater HER performance than Ni and Cu in alkaline conditions 93, 94, 95, 96, 97. Another promising material is Ni−Mo;98, 99, 100, 101 however, there have been issues associated with its low dispersion of the active surface.…”

Room-temperature synthesis of three-dimensional porous ZnO@CuNi hybrid magnetic layers with photoluminescent and photocatalytic properties

“…In this case, the ZnO shell is less uniform than for ZnO@Cu 80 Ni 20 , which is in part due to the less regular morphology of the CuNi foams featuring larger Ni contents. [35] This is because there is strong dependence of the Ni content on the CuNi morphology. Cu deposition typically promotes the formation of a uniform foam-like architecture.…”

Recent Progresses in Electrocatalysts for Water Electrolysis

“…Therefore, the incorporation of other metals to Ni (smaller values of ∆G H as compared with other earth abundant metals) to form alloys such as NiCo, NiMo, NiCu and ternary metal alloys such as NiMoZn is a promising method to produce electrocatalysts with enhanced HER performances. In addition, synergetic effects can be observed if two transition metals are combined, increasing conductivity [242][243][244][245][246][247][248][249][250][251][252][253][254], making Ni-Co alloys efficient electrocatalysts due to improved intrinsic catalytic activities and corrosion resistance behaviours in alkaline media. For example, Sun et al [243] reported the synthesis of mesoporous NiCo alloys through the electroless deposition method by using different compositions of lyotropic liquid crystals (LLC) as the mesoporous template.…”