Electrocatalytic behaviors of silver-palladium nanoalloys modified carbon ionic liquid electrode towards hydrogen evolution reaction

Electrocatalytic activity of Ag/Pd bimetallic nanoparticles modified carbon ionic liquid electrode (Ag/Pd/CILE) has been studied towards the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The electrochemical characterizations were performed using cyclic voltammetry (CV), linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Results showed that when Ag/Pd nanoalloys are used in the electrode structure, the overpotential for the HER shifts to more positive values compared to the case when pure Pd is present. It was also observed that both charge transfer resistance for HER and hydrogen adsorption resistance decreased with increasing the Ag content in Ag/Pd alloy up to 20%. The best result was obtained when Ag/Pd(20:80)/CILE was used. Also, incorporation of ionic liquid into the electrode structure improves the electrocatalytic behavior of Ag/Pd nanoalloys toward HER. (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd.