Abstract
This work reports the preparation of high-performance electrocatalytic electrodes based on structured copper deposits. The metal catalysts are synthesized by potentiostatic electrodeposition on a stainless steel substrate under hydrogen co-generation. This deposition technique generates evolving gases that leading to the formation of copper deposits in the form of dendrites, revealed by scanning electron microscopy. These catalysts exhibit high electrocatalytic activity for formaldehyde electrooxidation reaction (FOR) in alkaline media, showing a peak overpotential of -0.6 V (peak current of 2.3 mA.cm -2 ) in 0.1 M KOH + 2.0 M HCHO. The results show that the electroactivity of the catalysts depends on the value of the electrodeposition overpotential, with the best performance observed at -0.8 V. Besides, the anodic peak of the catalyst based on dendrites microstructures for formaldehyde oxidation is 2.3 times higher than that of smooth copper obtained without hydrogen co-generation and exhibit good durability results.