β-Ni(OH)2 and NiO Nanostructured Films Prepared by Using Chemical Bath Deposition for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Abstract

beta-Ni(OH)(2) and NiO nanostructured films were prepared on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass substrates by using chemical bath deposition (CBD) at different concentrations of a complexing agent (i.e., NH3). The as-deposited beta-Ni(OH)(2) films exhibited various porous structures, such as nanoislands, nanoflakes, nanosheets and nanoplatelets, depending on the concentration of the complexing agent, and they could be converted to NiO films by using calcination. The beta-Ni(OH)(2) and the NiO films were characterized by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Importantly, the electrochemical activity of NiO nanoplatelet-films for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) was also investigated as a function of the annealing temperature.