Pulsed Electrodeposited Nickel – Cerium for Hydrogen Production Studies

The approach of alloying different elements results in new alloy phase with exclusive properties that could be a potential candidate in various applications. In the present work an attempt has been made to electrodeposit Nickel-Cerium (Ni-Ce) alloy. Nickel is an intriguing metal with much availability in earth's crust. The catalytic power of Nickel based alloys towards hydrogen evolution reaction has been already reported for Nickel-Metal alloys, NiO/Ni and Nickel-Rare Earth metals [1, 2]. Furthermore, alloying of Nickel with rare earth materials induces significant properties. Amongst rare earth elements, Cerium is a unique lanthanide element which has attracted more attention owing to its different electronic structures such as Ce3+ and Ce4+ which could result in different optical and catalytic properties. Ni-Ce coatings were electrodeposited on stainless steel substrate by pulsed electrodeposition technique [3] form acidic aqueous bath of Nickel acetate and Cerium acetate. Boric acid is used as an additive for smoother deposition of the sample. The deposition was found to be favoured at applied current density of 10 mA/cm2. X-Ray diffraction, High Resolution scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy dispersive spectroscopy were used to characterize the prepared sample.