Electroless nickel plating on alumina ceramic activated by metallic nickel as electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction

A cheap metallic nickel activation process is proposed and easily performed on porous alumina ceramic. By this process, metallic nickel nanoparticles are deposited on the alumina ceramic and serve as the catalytic active centers to trigger electroless nickel plating reaction. The obtained coating exhibits excellent electrocatalytic oxygen evolution performance. This is closely related to its amorphous structure and the existence of oxides and hydroxides on its surface which can supply catalytic active sites for oxygen evolution reaction. Therefore, the simple metallic nickel activation process is a promising activation method for electroless nickel plating on porous alumina ceramic. [Display omitted] •Nickel nanoparticles are deposited on alumina ceramic by metallic nickel activation.•Electroless plating is initiated at the deposition point of nickel nanoparticles.•The NiP coating exhibits excellent electrocatalytic oxygen evolution performance.•The amorphous structure of coating expose more catalytic active sites for OER.