Relationship between degradation mechanism and water electrolysis efficiency of electrodeposited nickel electrodes
Amirali Farmani, Farzin Fahimi, Farzad Nasirpouri
Abstract
This work investigates the degradation or corrosion of bulk and mesoporous (MP) electrodeposited nickel electrodes in alkaline water electrolysis in the absence and presence of magnetic field. Based on the electrochemical and analytical tests and morphological evaluation, both bulk and MP electrodes show improved properties of alkaline water electrolysis in the presence of magnetic field due to the impaired formation of gas bubbles and more stable hydroxide layer formed on nickel. However, mesoporous Ni electrodes exhibited significantly less damage due to the presence of higher active sites and inherent porosity which reduce either number of size of bubbles, thereby mitigating stress and minimizing harm to the hydroxide layer. Although scaling up magnetic water electrolysis for industrial electrolyzers demands great economical and technical challenges, our approach using mesoporous nickel electrodes offers promise by reducing degradation and partially offsetting costs through improved efficiency.