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Updated: Jan 19, 2026
Chemical Precipitation Method for the Synthesis of Nb2O5 Modified Bulk Nickel Catalysts with High Specific Surface Area
Published on: February 19, 2018
Application of phase-pure nickel phosphide nanoparticles as cathode catalysts for hydrogen production in microbial
Kyoung-Yeol Kim1, Susan E Habas2, Joshua A Schaidle2
1Department of Environmental and Sustainable Engineering, University at Albany, State University of New York, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12222, United States; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, 231Q Sackett Building, University Park, PA 16802, United States.
Abstract:
Transition metal phosphide catalysts such as nickel phosphide (Ni2P) have shown excellent activities for the hydrogen evolution reaction, but they have primarily been studied in strongly acidic or alkaline electrolytes. In microbial electrolysis cells (MECs), however, the electrolyte is usually a neutral pH to support the bacteria. Carbon-supported phase-pure Ni2P nanoparticle catalysts (Ni2P/C) were synthesized using solution-phase methods and their performance was compared to Pt/C and Ni/C catalysts in MECs. The Ni2P/C produced a similar quantity of hydrogen over a 24 h cycle (0.29 ± 0.04 L-H2/L-reactor) as that obtained using Pt/C (0.32 ± 0.03 L-H2/L) or Ni/C (0.29 ± 0.02 L-H2/L). The mass normalized current density of the Ni2P/C was 14 times higher than that of the Ni/C, and the Ni2P/C exhibited stable performance over 11 days. Ni2P/C may therefore be a useful alternative to Pt/C or other Ni-based catalysts in MECs due to its chemical stability over time.
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