Low Overvoltage Hydrogen Cathode

The strategy to obtain high perfotmance materials for the discharge of hydrogen from high alkaline media has been two-fold  

Since the atomic hydrogen participating in the slow step diffuses into the bulk metal, metals exhibiting low Tafel slopes act as sinks for adsorbed hydrogen, resulting in hydrogen embrittlement via lattice expansion/distortion [5,7]. While the presence of adsorbed 

FIGURE 4.6.4. Schematic of the polarization data when two activation controlled reactions with different Tafel slopes proceed. 

d in the above table refers to the coverage by the adsorbed H intermediate. 

The main technical criteria for selection of a high-performance cathode material include 

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