Electroactivity of cobalt and nickel glyoximes with regard to the electro-reduction of protons into molecular hydrogen in acidic media

Water electrolysis is a key technological process for the production of hydrogen and the storage of intermittent and renewable energy sources. For domestic applications, the proton exchange membrane (PEM) process provides a safe and efficient way to split water into molecular hydrogen and oxygen but this technology, which requires platinum family electro-catalysts, remains too expensive. Molecular chemistry offers new opportunities for synthesizing alternative low-cost compounds, sufficiently stable in strong acidic media. In this paper, results obtained with different nickel and cobalt glyoximes are presented. They have been chemically (using U-V-visible spectroscopy) and electrochemically (using cyclic voltammetry and spectro-electrochemistry) characterized. Their ability to electroreduce protons into molecular hydrogen from aqueous acidic solutions is discussed, the compounds being either dissolved in solution or immobilized at the surface of a solid electrode using recast Nafion (R) films in view of PEM applications. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.