Abstract

Nickel-Tungsten-reduced Graphene Oxide (Ni-W-rGO) composite coating was developed through composite electrodeposition method, and its electrocatalytic activity for alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) was studied. The development of composite coating with a homogeneous dispersion of rGO nanosheets was achieved from an optimal Ni-W plating bath loaded with nanosheets was achieved from an optimal Ni-W plating bath loaded with graphene oxide (GO), synthesized through the chemical oxidation of graphite. The electrocatalytic efficacy of the composite coating for HER was tested using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronopotentiometry (CP) techniques in 1.0 M KOH medium. A remarkable increase in the HER activity was observed for the Ni-WrGO composite coating compared with the Ni-W alloy coating. The variation in composition, surface morphology and crystal structure of the composite coating effected by the incorporation of rGO into the alloy matrix favor the enhanced HER activity, as evidenced by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD).