Modified carbon cloth with cobalt oxide and palladium for electrochemical hydrogen production

Nowadays, the demand for energy is growing and the raw materials for the fossil fuel economy are diminishing. Hydrogen is being extensively investigated as an alternative to fossil fuels [1]. Water electrolysis is a simple and large-scale industrial method, for production of hydrogen [2]. Platinum (Pt) is an ideal catalyst for electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), but it is expensive and its present resource is very limit [3]. In this research, for the first time, Co3O4 nanowire arrays were directly grown on carbone cloth (CC) by a hydrothermal method. Then Pd nanoparticles were electrochemically deposited on nanowires by cyclic voltammetry technique (Pd@Co3O4/CC). The proposed electrode was applied for electrochemical hydrogen production in acidic media.The catalytic activity of the Pd@Co3O4/CC electrode was compared with CC, Pd/CC and Co3O4/CC electrodes, which the results shown that the HER performance on these electrode were as this order: Pd@Co3O4/CC Pd/CC Co3O4/CC CC. Therefor we can conclude that Pd and Co3O4 have synergic effect and cobalt oxide can imrove the HER performance of Pd catalyst.