Pd-Ni nanoalloy decorated carbon nanotubes based efficient and stable silicon photocathode for acidic water splitting

Abstract The present study reports the fabrication of Ni-Pd nanoalloy decorated carbon nanotubes based highly efficient and stable p-Si photocathode for acidic water splitting by a simple, inexpensive and scalable electroless method. The network of carbon nanotubes over silicon surface readily provide support for the uniform distribution and deposition of few nanometer sized Pd-Ni nanoparticles which further results in outstanding photoelectrochemical properties. The large decrement in the overpotential for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction right from (−860 mV vs RHE) to (−40 mV vs RHE) has been observed for CNTs;Pd-Ni modified Silicon photocathode over the bare Silicon at a current density of −10 mA/cm2. So, with these results we propose a potential replacement for the popular Platinum (Pt) Hydrogen Evolution Reaction catalyst with efficient and low cost CNT;Pd-Ni based Si photocathode.