Synthesis of Ni decorated MoOx nanorod catalysts for efficient overall urea-water splitting

Substituting slow oxygen evolution reaction (OER) with thermodynamically favorable urea oxidation reaction (UOR) is considered as one of the feasible strategies for achieving energy-saving hydrogen production. Herein, a uniform layer of NiMoO4 nanorods was grown on nickel foam by a hydrothermal method. Then, a series of Ni-MoOx/NF-X nanorod catalysts comprising Ni/NiO and MoOx (MoO2/MoO3) were prepared through regulating annealing atmosphere and reduction temperature. The optimized Ni-MoOx/NF-3 with a large accessible specific area can act as a bifunctional catalyst for electrocatalytic anodic UOR and cathodic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). At a current density of 100 mA cm-2, the introduction of urea can significantly reduce the overpotential of Ni-MoOx/NF-3 by 210 mV compared to OER. In addition, Ni-MoOx/NF-3 has a higher intrinsic activity than other catalysts. It only requires -0.21 and 1.38 V to reach 100 mA cm-2 in HER and UOR, respectively. Such an excellent performance can be attributed to the synergistic function between Ni and MoOx. The presence of metallic Ni and reduced MoOx in pairs is beneficial for improving the electrical conductivity and modulating the electronic structure, resulting in enhancing the electrocatalytic performance. When assembling Ni-MoOx/NF-3 into an overall urea-water splitting system, it can achieve energy-saving hydrogen production and effective removal of urea-rich wastewater.