A study on the catalytic decomposition of the hydrogen peroxide on NiFe/CeO2 catalysts

Ni has been investigated as a stable and inexpensive electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in electrolysers. Several recent studies have shown that Fe addition to the Ni catalyst results in a higher OER catalytic activity A successful OER catalyst must be active and stable in alkaline and oxidant environments. Catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide has been extensively studied and its kinetics depends on the operating conditions (concentrations, temperature and pH), on the catalysts and, for heterogeneous catalysts, on their surface properties. Moreover, this reaction has been used as a model reaction for evaluating the catalytic activity in correlation with catalyst surface features. In this work, NiFe/CeO2 catalysts with different Ni and Fe ratios were prepared through a chemical reduction method using sodium borohydride. The morphology and structure of these catalysts were characterised by Scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, N2 adsorption/desorption physisorption. Their catalytic performance was preliminarily investigated by evaluating the catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide. The catalysts were also compared in terms of activity (Figure 1) at different pH values. At higher pH, the catalyst stability was investigated. Our results show that NiFe/CeO2 catalysts can be promising and stable catalysts.