Design and synthesis of graphite/Ni/Cu/triptorelin peptide electrocatalyst for hydrogen production and storage

Hydrogen is a green energy carrier with high energy density. Its production and storage are facing challenges that have made researchers use different materials for its production and storage. Peptides are known to be very effective as the framework of metal cores for making electrocatalysts. Therefore, in this research, a network of nickel and copper with a peptide framework (PCuNi) was created on the surface of the graphite electrode by an electrochemical method, and then the performance of this electrocatalyst was evaluated for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in an alkaline medium. The amount of peptide and metal cores in the network was optimized to achieve the maximum efficiency of performing the hydrogen evolution reaction, and the structure and morphology of the peptide frameworks were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), mapping detector and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronopotentiometry (CE), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques were used to evaluate the performance of the PCuNi electrocatalyst, which indicated the good ability of this network to produce and store hydrogen.