The study proved that synthesis of the Ni(OOH) active layer over nickel-based electrocatalysts before utilization in methanol electrooxidation is not an important step and the oxidation process can start over the inactivated surface. Based on XPS analysis and the electrochemical measurements, the electrooxidation process can take place over the bared nickel surface by means of the predominant Ni(OH)₂ thin layer with formation of the Ni(OOH) as by product; the reactions were explained by a newly proposed mechanism. Later on, due to abundance of the conventional active layer, the oxidation process returns to the ordinary mechanism until exhaustion of the NiOOH layer then the oxidation reactions return back to be Ni(OH)₂-dependent and so forth. Accordingly, it was discovered that the methanol oxidation process can be done continuously on the surface of the inactivated Ni-based materials by two successive mechanisms. Ni-decorated graphene was synthesized and exploited as an effective Ni-based electrocatalyst, the catalyst model was characterized by XRD, TEM and Raman spectroscopy analyses. Overall, the study introduces a novel characteristic for the nickel-based electrocatalysts and opens a new avenue for those cheap electrode materials to be exploited in the fuel cells.

研究证明，在甲醇电氧化之前，在镍基电催化剂上合成Ni（OOH）活性层不是重要的步骤，并且氧化过程可以在失活的表面上开始。基于XPS分析和电化学测量，可以通过主要的Ni（OH）₂薄层在裸露的镍表面上进行电氧化过程，并形成副产物Ni（OOH）。通过一种新提出的机制解释了这些反应。后来，由于传统活性层的存在，氧化过程回到了普通机制，直到耗尽NiOOH层，然后氧化反应又回到了Ni（OH）_2。-依此类推。因此，发现可以通过两个连续的机理在失活的Ni基材料的表面上连续进行甲醇氧化过程。合成了修饰镍的石墨烯，并将其用作有效的镍基电催化剂，通过XRD，TEM和拉曼光谱分析对催化剂模型进行了表征。总的来说，这项研究为镍基电催化剂引入了一种新颖的特性，并为在燃料电池中开发廉价的电极材料开辟了一条新途径。