Bimetallic cobalt (Co)-based coatings were prepared by a facile, fast, and low-cost electroless deposition on a copper substrate (CoFe, CoMn, CoMo) and characterized by scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis. Prepared coatings were thoroughly examined for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline solution (1 M potassium hydroxide, KOH) and their activity compared to that of Co and Ni coatings. All five coatings showed activity for both reactions, where CoMo and Co showed the highest activity for HER and OER, respectively. Namely, the highest HER current density was recorded at CoMo coating with low overpotential (61 mV) to reach a current density of 10 mA·cm−2. The highest OER current density was recorded at Co coating with a low Tafel slope of 60 mV·dec−1. Furthermore, these coatings proved to be stable under HER and OER polarization conditions.

No abstract

Electroless cobalt films were deposited from a neutral pH glycinate solution without additives using morpholine borane (MB) as a reducing agent. The rate of deposition rises with increase in concentration of solution components (Co ions, MB and glycine), and pH. The efficiency of cobalt discharge increases when the deposition is performed from the Co(II) complex with glycine. XPS data indicate that boron and oxygen are incorporated into the cobalt films. Two forms of boron (elemental and its oxide) were detected in the electrolessly deposited cobalt films.

In this study, cobalt-nickel (Co-Ni), cobalt-iron (Co-Fe), cobalt-iron-manganese (Co-Fe-Mn), cobalt-iron-molybdenum (Co-Fe-Mo), and cobalt-zinc (Co-Zn) coatings were studied as catalysts towards the evolution of hydrogen (HER) and oxygen (OER). The binary and ternary Co coatings were deposited on a copper surface using the electroless metal plating technique and morpholine borane (MB) as a reducing agent. The as-deposited Co-Ni, Co-Fe, Co-Fe-Mn, Co-Fe-Mo, and Co-Zn coatings produce compact and crack-free layers with typical globular morphology. It was found that the Co-Fe-Mo coating gives the lowest overpotential of 128.0 mV for the HER and the lowest overpotential of 455 mV for the OER to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm−2. The HER and OER current density values increase 1.4–2.0 times with an increase in temperature from 25 °C to 55 °C using the prepared 3D binary or ternary cobalt coatings for HER and OER. The highest mass electrocatalytic activity of 1.55 mA µg−1 for HER and 2.72 mA µg−1 for OER was achieved on the Co-Fe coating with a metal loading of 28.11 µg cm−2 at 25 °C.

No abstract