The development of high-performance and low-cost electrodes is essential for hydrogen production using a proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer (PEMWE). Herein, we report an electrochemical method for the fabrication of a Ni-P based cathode for a PEMWE single cell. A porous copper foam (CF) is fabricated on carbon paper (CP) by two-step electrodeposition to obtain a large number of active sites for Ni-P formation. The high conductivity of the Cu metallic support is expected to reduce the charge transfer resistance. After the Ni-P electrodeposition on CF, an anodic leaching process is conducted for the selective dissolution of the excess Ni metal formed during the electro-deposition, thus enabling the modification of the electronic structure of the catalyst. The electrode optimized in half-cell tests is used as the cathode for a PEMWE single cell. The PEMWE cells exhibit a current density of 0.67 A/cm2 at 2.0 Vcell which is higher than or comparable to the performance previously reported in the literature.

中文翻译：

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用于质子交换膜水电解槽的泡沫铜负载电沉积磷化镍

开发高性能和低成本电极对于使用质子交换膜水电解槽 (PEMWE) 制氢至关重要。在此，我们报告了一种用于制造 PEMWE 单电池的 Ni-P 基阴极的电化学方法。通过两步电沉积在碳纸（CP）上制备多孔泡沫铜（CF）以获得大量用于 Ni-P 形成的活性位点。Cu金属载体的高导电性有望降低电荷转移电阻。在CF上电沉积Ni-P后，进行阳极浸出过程以选择性溶解电沉积过程中形成的过量Ni金属，从而改变催化剂的电子结构。在半电池测试中优化的电极用作 PEMWE 单电池的阴极。PEMWE 电池在 2.0 Vcell 下表现出 0.67 A/cm2 的电流密度，高于或与之前文献中报道的性能相当。