Nickel Nanoparticles Supported on Carbon Cloth via Pulsed Laser Deposition as an Effective Catalyst for Urea Electro-oxidation Reaction

Nickel nanoparticles supported on carbon cloth (NiNP/CC) were prepared via Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) with three different deposition time (20 s, 40 s and 60 s). The materials were tested as electrocatalysts for urea electro-oxidation reaction (UER) in alkaline media. From Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), it was observed that the agglomeration of the nickel nanoparticles increased as the deposition time by PLD increased. Regarding UER, the maximum current density from cyclic voltammetry (CV) experiments, normalized by electroactive surface area (ESA), on NiNP/CC 20s catalysts was about 35.5% and 67.9% higher than that one obtained using NiNP/CC 40s and NiNP/CC 60s catalysts. The results from chronoamperometry (CA) measurements showed the same trend. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) measurements proved that the charge transfer resistance significantly decreased for UER process as the electrocatalytic activity of nickel nanoparticles increased. Thus, NiNP/CC 20s stands out as the best catalyst for UER in this study, probably due its small size of the particle's agglomeration and its better dispersion on the carbon cloth (CC), the support material.