Metallization of 3D Printed Polymers and Their Application as a Fully Functional Water-Splitting System

Abstract

In this work, the plating of high-quality amorphous nickel–phosphorous coating with low resistivity of 0.45 µΩ m (298 K) on complex 3D printed polymeric structures with high uniformity is reported. Such a polymer metallization results in an effective conductivity of 4.7 × 10 4 S m −1 . This process also allows flexible structures to maintain their flexibility along with the conductivity. Octet-truss structures with nickel–iron-(oxo) hydroxide nanosheets electrodeposited onto further displays excellent water-splitting performance as catalytic electrodes, i.e., in KOH (1 m, aq), a low oxygen evolution reaction (OER) overpotential of 197 mV at 10 mA cm −2 and Tafel slope of 51 mV dec −1 . Using this light-weight electrode with high specific area, strength, and corrosion resistance properties, a fully functional water-splitting system is designed and fabricated through the concentric integration of 3D printed components. A dense polymeric mesh implemented is also demonstrated as an effective separator of hydrogen and oxygen bubbles in this system. © 2018 The Authors. Published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim