Water Electrolysis using Flame-Annealed Pencil-Graphite Rods

Inexpensive and sensitive graphite electrodes were fabricated by applying flame annealing to pencil-graphite rods (PGRs) as electrodes for water electrolysiscells. The resin (polymer, binder) on the surface of PGR was removed by flame annealing to make it porous, and the graphite electrodes with high activity and low cost were obtained. By flame annealing the PGR, although the PGR electrode became active upon water electrolysis, the PGR electrode became instable for long-time operation. The effects of flame annealing on PGR for water electrolysiswere analyzed by SEM, FT-IR spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, NEXAFS, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(EIS).