Effect of PTFE Coverage on the Performance of Gas Evolving Electrodes

The effect of nickel electrode partial coverage with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) on the electrode performance for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) was investigated. We show that for low current densities the only effect of the electrode coverage is to decrease the effective area. For medium current densities (>10 mA/cm2), coverage with PTFE has an overall beneficial effect in the electrode performance even with the resulting decrease in electrode surface area. Finally, for high current densities, in a regime of violent bubble release (1 A/cm2), coverage effect is decreased but still significant.