Dear Dr. Solomon,

Nikel foam is probablu disolved under acidic conditions. For the carbon cloth one should know composition of your samples. Anodic current appeared near the thermodynamic potential for hydrogen evolution reaction. So stop your experiments to -0.3 V, and no nickel dissolution should occur (cathodic protection)

Hi,

There is a common misconception that "cathodic potential" means negative potential. A cathodic potential is one where a cathodic reaction/current occurs and it may be positive or negative depending on the reference electrode used to measure the potential, and the equilibrium potential of the reaction (as indicated by the previous post). Electrochemists use "cathodic potential" rather freely, and sometimes inappropriately, because it is much easier than saying "at a potential more negative than the equilibrium potential for the reaction."

The anodic current you see may be the electrode corroding, or it may be the oxidation of hydrogen trapped in the foam.

Hi getachew,

You should try only nicel foam and you can compared to nicel foam+carbon material. After you will obtain current, which it is depend on nicel foam. According to current, you cut potential in negative region. Then apply for nicel+carbon material. If you apply further negative potential you can occurs high current in negatif region. Furthermore, current changes to electrode surface area. Therefore, you can give as current density. Also, if your electrode shows similar behaviour after 20cycle, you obtained good a electrode for HER.