Electrodeposition of hydrophobic Ni thin films from different baths under the influence of the magnetic field as electrocatalysts for hydrogen production

Ni thin films were synthesized through the electrodeposition method from three different electrolytes in absence and presence of the magnetic field. They were assessed as electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Herein, we have studied the difference of the electrocatalytic activity of the fabricated materials towards HER in case of using them as fresh samples after the deposition process directly and after keeping them in boxes for 3 weeks (old samples). Moreover, we have studied the changes of the contact angle in case of the fresh and old samples. The old fabricated Ni films from the three electrolytes have shown higher catalytic performance. Moreover, the old and fresh fabricated Ni thin film from citrate has the smallest overpotential value of 234 mV and 288 mV, respectively in comparing with other films. The scanning electron microscope, X-Ray, Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used for films characterization.