{"title":"Facile electrooxidation of urea on nickel/metal oxide nanocomposites in alkaline media","authors":"Machireddy Narendra Reddy , Yellatur Chandra Sekhar , Loka Subramanyam Sarma","doi":"10.1016/j.mseb.2024.117785","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Development of efficient non-precious metal catalysts for electrocatalytic urea oxidation reaction (UOR) is highly sought to realize urea electrolysis as a viable electrochemical technology for the hydrogen production. Herein, a facile hydrothermal method is demonstrated to fabricate nickel/metal oxide nanocomposites (Ni-MnO<sub>2</sub>, Ni-TiO<sub>2</sub> and Ni-MnO<sub>2</sub>/TiO<sub>2</sub>). The morphology and structural details of nickel/metal oxide nanocomposites are assessed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) including high-resolution TEM, scanning electron microscopy (SEM)-energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Electrochemical efficacies of nickel/metal oxide nanocomposites are evaluated in 0.35 M urea solution under alkaline conditions (1 M KOH) using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV). Among the studied catalysts, Ni-MnO<sub>2</sub>/TiO<sub>2</sub> exhibits reasonable electrocatalytic activity towards UOR (1.29 V vs Ag/AgCl satd. KCl is required to achieve 10 mAcm<sup>−2</sup> current density). Improved interfacing of nickel with tubular-like MnO<sub>2</sub> and presence of TiO<sub>2</sub> with MnO<sub>2</sub> all together contributed for the observed higher UOR catalytic activity. This work demonstrates the efficacies of interfacial engineering in achieving high performing electrocatalysts for UOR.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18233,"journal":{"name":"Materials Science and Engineering B-advanced Functional Solid-state Materials","volume":"311 ","pages":"Article 117785"},"PeriodicalIF":3.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Materials Science and Engineering B-advanced Functional Solid-state Materials","FirstCategoryId":"88","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921510724006147","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"MATERIALS SCIENCE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Development of efficient non-precious metal catalysts for electrocatalytic urea oxidation reaction (UOR) is highly sought to realize urea electrolysis as a viable electrochemical technology for the hydrogen production. Herein, a facile hydrothermal method is demonstrated to fabricate nickel/metal oxide nanocomposites (Ni-MnO2, Ni-TiO2 and Ni-MnO2/TiO2). The morphology and structural details of nickel/metal oxide nanocomposites are assessed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) including high-resolution TEM, scanning electron microscopy (SEM)-energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Electrochemical efficacies of nickel/metal oxide nanocomposites are evaluated in 0.35 M urea solution under alkaline conditions (1 M KOH) using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV). Among the studied catalysts, Ni-MnO2/TiO2 exhibits reasonable electrocatalytic activity towards UOR (1.29 V vs Ag/AgCl satd. KCl is required to achieve 10 mAcm−2 current density). Improved interfacing of nickel with tubular-like MnO2 and presence of TiO2 with MnO2 all together contributed for the observed higher UOR catalytic activity. This work demonstrates the efficacies of interfacial engineering in achieving high performing electrocatalysts for UOR.
期刊介绍:
The journal provides an international medium for the publication of theoretical and experimental studies and reviews related to the electronic, electrochemical, ionic, magnetic, optical, and biosensing properties of solid state materials in bulk, thin film and particulate forms. Papers dealing with synthesis, processing, characterization, structure, physical properties and computational aspects of nano-crystalline, crystalline, amorphous and glassy forms of ceramics, semiconductors, layered insertion compounds, low-dimensional compounds and systems, fast-ion conductors, polymers and dielectrics are viewed as suitable for publication. Articles focused on nano-structured aspects of these advanced solid-state materials will also be considered suitable.