Understanding the Effect on Hydrogen Evolution Reaction in Alkaline Medium of Thickness of Physical Vapor Deposited Al-Ni Electrodes

This paper presents a study of the effect of thickness of porous Al-Ni electrodes, on the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER) in alkaline media. As varying deposition time at 300 W DC sputtering power, the thickness of the Al-Ni electrodes was controlled from 1 to $20{\mu}m$. The heat treatment was carried out in $610^{\circ}C$, followed by selective leaching of the Al-rich phase. XRD studies confirmed the presence of $Al_3Ni_2$ intermetallic compounds after the heat treatment, indicating the diffusion of Ni from the Ni-rich phase to Al-rich phase. The porous structure of the Al-Ni electrodes after the selective leaching of Al was also confirmed in SEM-EDS analysis. The double layer capacitance ($C_{dl}$) and roughness factor ($R_f$) of the electrodes were increased for the thicker Al-Ni electrodes. As opposed to the general results in above, there were no further improvements of the HER activity in the case of the electrode thickness above $10{\mu}m$. This result may indicate that the $R_f$ is not the primary factor for the HER activity in alkaline media.

Physical Vapor Deposition 방법으로 제조된 Al-Ni 전극의 두께가 알칼라인 수전해 수소발생반응에 미치는 영향 연구