Femtosecond laser molybdenum alloyed and enlarged nickel surfaces for the hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline water electrolysis

A simple femtosecond laser alloying process is applied under two different process gases nitrogen and air to create novel molybdenum-nickel alloyed and surface enhanced catalysts. A three-day electrochemical test protocol is applied in an alkaline half-cell at 298 K and 353 K to examine the catalytic activity and initial degradation mechanisms in the hydrogen evolution reaction. It is found, that the surface enhancement and the stability of the electrode significantly depends on the process gas. Molybdenum is degraded at the beginning of the test protocol, but it is shown that higher concentrations are not necessarily required for an increase performance. The highest catalytic activity on an electrode alloyed with molybdenum under nitrogen emerges in a steady state operation at 353 K. An overpotential of 135 mV at -100 mA cm-2 is measured.