Studies of structure and electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution on electrodeposited nanocrystalline Ni-Mo alloy electrodes

Nanocrystalline Ni-Mo alloy deposits were obtained by electrodeposition. The structures of the alloy deposits were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The XRD shows that Ni-Mo alloy deposit with 15.2% molybdenum exhibits (111) preferred orientation, the lattice constant is larger than that of nickel metal. The XPS results on nanocrystalline Ni-Mo alloy deposits indicate that the nickel and molybdenum of the deposits exist in the metallic state, the binding energy of the alloyed elements increase to some extent. The nanocrystalline Ni-Mo alloy deposit electrode may offer better electrocatalytic activity than the polycrystalline nickel electrode. The electrochemical impedance spectra from the nanocrystalline Ni-Mo alloy electrode indicate that hydrogen evolution in 30% (mm) KOH is in accordance with the Volmer-Heyrovsky mechanism.