Stability and durability of nickel-molybdenum foam electrodes in electrocatalytic seawater splitting

Abstract Hydrogen production through seawater electrolysis has emerged as a promising sustainable solution to global energy challenges. This study investigates the development of high-performance electrodes for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline seawater environments. The experimental results demonstrated that the nickel-molybdenum (NiMo) electrodes exhibited superior catalytic performance compared to conventional iron (Fe) and nickel-iron (NiFe) electrodes based on the systematic comparison. The optimized NiMo electrode showed that HER activity and stability were enhanced significantly in simulated seawater conditions, lower overpotentials achieved and long-term durability improved compared to Fe and NiFe counterparts. Comprehensive material characterization by SEM was carried out to further study the effect of the molybdenum element addition on the electrochemical performance, providing the insights on the design principles for efficient seawater electrolysis electrodes. These findings highlight the potential of NiMo systems as cost-effective and robust alternatives to conventional electrodes for industrial-scale hydrogen production from seawater.