Bifunctional nickel oxide-based nanosheets for highly efficient overall urea splitting.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Catalysis

Background:

• Developing efficient electrocatalysts is crucial for sustainable energy technologies.
• Bifunctional catalysts that can drive both urea oxidation and hydrogen evolution are highly sought after for overall water and urea splitting.
• Nanostructured materials offer high surface areas and enhanced catalytic activity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize and characterize porous and hollow Ni0.9Fe0.1Ox microspheres assembled from 2D nanosheets.
• To evaluate the bifunctional electrocatalytic activity of the synthesized material for both urea oxidation reaction (UOR) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER).
• To determine the potential required for overall urea splitting using the developed catalyst.

Main Methods:

• Hydrothermal synthesis of Ni0.9Fe0.1Ox microspheres.
• Characterization using techniques like scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM).
• Electrochemical measurements including cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry (CA) to assess UOR and HER performance.

Main Results:

• Porous and hollow Ni0.9Fe0.1Ox microspheres with a 2D nanosheet assembly were successfully synthesized.
• The material demonstrated excellent bifunctional electrocatalytic activity for both UOR and HER.
• An exceptionally low potential of 1.455 V was achieved at a current density of 10 mA cm-2 for overall urea splitting.

Conclusions:

• The novel Ni0.9Fe0.1Ox microspheres represent a highly efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst.
• The unique porous and hollow nanostructure contributes to the enhanced catalytic performance.
• This material shows significant promise for applications in efficient and cost-effective urea splitting for hydrogen production.