Water electrolysis is a promising way to produce hydrogen fuel, but many electrocatalytic systems require electrodes made of noble metals such as platinum. There is a demand for high-efficiency, low-cost materials to replace these noble metals. Herein, porous anodic alumina (AAO) templates are prepared by direct current (DC) constant voltage anodization and the step-down method. Cobalt, nickel and Co–Ni alloy nanowires are then prepared by alternating current (AC) electrodeposition. This nanoarray system can be employed in fuel cells to minimize the use of precious metals and reduce the cost of the cathodes. The pores of the AAO template are uniform with a size range from 35 to 75 nm. Using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), the Co–Ni nanowire array prepared on AAO by this method is shown to have a low overpotential for hydrogen evolution and excellent stability.

水电解是生产氢燃料的一种有前途的方法，但是许多电催化系统需要由贵金属（例如铂）制成的电极。需要一种高效，低成本的材料来替代这些贵金属。在此，通过直流（DC）恒压阳极氧化和降压方法制备多孔阳极氧化铝（AAO）模板。钴，镍和钴–然后通过交流电（AC）电沉积制备镍合金纳米线。该纳米阵列系统可用于燃料电池，以最大程度地减少贵金属的使用并降低阴极成本。AAO模板的孔是均匀的，尺寸范围为35至75nm。使用循环伏安法（CV）和线性扫描伏安法（LSV），通过该方法在AAO上制备的Co-Ni纳米线阵列显示出较低的过氢电位和极好的稳定性。