Effect of cobalt deposition on Ni anodes for alkaline membrane water electrolyser

In this work, the performance of nickel-based anodes in an alkaline membrane electrolysis cell was investigated. In particular, the effect of the presence of a very low quantity of electro-deposited cobalt on a porous Ni electrode directly interfaced with a commercial anionic membrane was evaluated. The modified Ni–Co structure was investigated by XRD, SEM, EDS and XPS, and showed different characteristics compared to the starting Ni structure with a surface ratio of Co equal to Ni. The catalytic activity for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the electrode/membrane interface increased considerably compared to pure nickel and reached the same level as a Ni/Pt reference electrode. We believe that this methodology, if further optimized, could open a new way to find an effective improved doping of the nickel anode able to work with alkaline membrane electrolysers. •We proposed a method to realize composite nickel – cobalt anode for alkaline electrolysis.•We characterised and compare anode in a small alkaline membrane electrolyser.•We observed an improve of the electro-catalytic properties of the Ni–Co anode for the OER keep stable during electrolysis.