In-Site Grown NiFeOOH Nanosheets Foam Directly as Robust Electrocatalyst for Efficient Urea Oxidation Application

Wenshuai Feng; Manman Bu; Yue Zhang; Yejun Li; Xiaohui Gao; Hongtao Liu

doi:10.1002/asia.202300362

In-Site Grown NiFeOOH Nanosheets Foam Directly as Robust Electrocatalyst for Efficient Urea Oxidation Application

Chem Asian J. 2023 Aug 1;18(15):e202300362. doi: 10.1002/asia.202300362. Epub 2023 Jun 7.

Authors

Wenshuai Feng¹, Manman Bu², Yue Zhang¹, Yejun Li¹, Xiaohui Gao¹, Hongtao Liu²

Affiliations

¹ Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory for Super-Microstructure and Ultrafast Process, School of Physics and Electronics, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China.
² Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Power Sources, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China.

PMID: 37246504
DOI: 10.1002/asia.202300362

Abstract

In this work, a series of morphology-controlled NiFeOOH nanosheets were directly developed through a one-step mild in-situ acid-etching hydrothermal process. Benefiting from the ultrathin interwoven geometric structure and most favorable electron transport structure, the NiFeOOH nanosheets synthesized under 120 °C (denoted as NiFe_120) exhibited the optimal electrochemical performance for urea oxidation reaction (UOR). An overpotential of merely 1.4 V was required to drive the current density of 100 mA cm^-2 , and the electrochemical activity remains no change even after 5000 cycles' accelerated degradation test. Moreover, the assembled urea electrolysis set by using the NiFe_120 as bifunctional catalysts presented a reduced potential of 1.573 V at 10 mA cm^-2 , which was much lower than that of overall water splitting. We believe this work will lay a foundation for developing high-performance urea oxidation catalysts for the large-scale production of hydrogen and purification of urea-rich sewage.

Keywords: NiFeOOH nanosheets; urea electrolysis; urea oxidation reaction.

Abstract

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