@article{JungePuringPiontekSmialkowskietal.2017, author = {Junge Puring, Kai and Piontek, Stefan and Smialkowski, Mathias and Burfeind, Jens and Kaluza, Stefan and Doetsch, Christian and Apfel, Ulf-Peter}, title = {Simple Methods for the Preparation of Non-noble Metal Bulk-electrodes for Electrocatalytic Applications}, series = {Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE}, journal = {Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE}, number = {124}, publisher = {JoVE}, issn = {1940-087X}, doi = {10.3791/56087}, year = {2017}, abstract = {The rock material pentlandite with the composition Fe4.5Ni4.5S8 was synthesized via high temperature synthesis from the elements. The structure and composition of the material was characterized via powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), M{\"o}ssbauer spectroscopy (MB), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Two preparation methods of pentlandite bulk electrodes are presented. In the first approach a piece of synthetic pentlandite rock is directly contacted via a wire ferrule. The second approach utilizes pentlandite pellets, pressed from finely ground powder, which is immobilized in a Teflon casing. Both electrodes, whilst being prepared by an additive-free method, reveal high durability during electrocatalytic conversions in comparison to common drop-coating methods. We herein showcase the striking performance of such electrodes to accomplish the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and present a standardized method to evaluate the electrocatalytic performance by electrochemical and gas chromatographic methods. Furthermore, we report stability tests via potentiostatic methods at an overpotential of 0.6 V to explore the material limitations of the electrodes during electrolysis under industrial relevant conditions.}, language = {en} }