Deposition of Pt Nanoparticles on Ni Foam via Galvanic Displacement

Abstract

In this study the PtNi/Nifoam catalyst was prepared by a simple approach. A thin Ni layer was deposited on the Nifoam substrate, using sodium hypophosphite as a reducing agent. Then, Pt crystallites were deposited on Ni/Nifoam by its immersion into 1 mM H2PtCl6 + 0.1 M HCl at 25 °C for various time periods. FESEM, EDX, and ICP-OES were used for the examination of the morphology and composition of catalysts. The catalytic activity of the prepared PtNi/Nifoam was evaluated toward the hydrolysis of NaBH4 and compared with that of Ni/Nifoam. It has been determined that the PtNi/Nifoam catalysts have higher catalytic activity with respect to the generation of hydrogen as compared to Ni/Nifoam.