Enhancement of hydrogen evolution reaction kinetics in alkaline media by fast galvanic displacement of nickel with rhodium – from smooth surfaces to electrodeposited nickel foams

Energy-efficient hydrogen production is one of the key factors for advancing the hydrogen-based economy. Alkaline water electrolysis is the main route for the production of high-purity hydrogen, but further improvements of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysts are still needed. Industrial alkaline electrolysis relies on Ni-based catalysts, and here we describe a drastic improvement of HER activity of Ni in alkaline media using several model catalysts for HER obtained upon nickel surface modification in aqueous solution of rhodium salts, when a spontaneous deposition of rhodium takes place based on the chemical displacement reaction 3Ni + 2Rh3+ = 3Ni2+ + 2Rh. In the case of smooth Ni-poly electrodes, HER activity surpasses the activity of Pt-poly already after 30 s of exchange with Rh. SEM analysis showed that Rh is uniformly distributed, while surface roughness changes within 10%, agreeing with electrochemical measurements. Furthermore, XPS analysis has shown effective incorporation of Rh in the surface, while DFT calculations suggest that hydrogen binding is significantly weakened on the Rh-modified Ni surfaces. Such tuning of the hydrogen binding energy is seen as the main factor governing HER activity improvements. The same galvanic displacement protocols were employed for nickel foam electrodes and electrodeposited Ni on Ti mesh. In both cases, somewhat longer Rh exchange times are needed to obtain superior activities than for the smooth Ni surface, but up to 10 min. HER overpotential corresponding to −10 mA cm−2 for nickel foam and electrodeposited Ni electrodes, after modification with Rh, amounted to only −0.07 and −0.09 V, respectively. Thus, it is suggested that a fast spontaneous displacement of Ni with Rh could effectively boost HER in alkaline media with minor cost penalties compared to energy saving in the electrolysis process.