Highly selective urea electrooxidation coupled with efficient hydrogen evolution

Abstract Electrochemical urea oxidation offers a sustainable avenue for H 2 production and wastewater denitrification within the water-energy nexus; however, its wide application is limited by detrimental cyanate or nitrite production instead of innocuous N 2 . Herein we demonstrate that atomically isolated asymmetric Ni–O–Ti sites on Ti foam anode achieve a N 2 selectivity of 99%, surpassing the connected symmetric Ni–O–Ni counterparts in documented Ni-based electrocatalysts with N 2 selectivity below 55%, and also deliver a H 2 evolution rate of 22.0 mL h –1 when coupled to a Pt counter cathode under 213 mA cm –2 at 1.40 V RHE . These asymmetric sites, featuring oxygenophilic Ti adjacent to Ni, favor…

• NS
  Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai

  Awards: 23ZR1431000, 22ZR1431700
• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 2021YFA1201701, 22306119, 22206124, U22A20402, 22102100
• CP
  China Postdoctoral Science Foundation

  Awards: 2021M702117, 2022M712049, 2023T160419, 2022M722080
• SJ
  Shanghai Jiao Tong University
• NK
  National Key Research and Development Program of China

  Awards: 2021YFA1201701, 2022YFA1505000