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Kumar S, Bhanuse GB, Fu YP. Phosphide-Based Electrocatalysts for Urea Electrolysis: Recent Trends and Progress. Chemphyschem 2024; 25:e202300924. [PMID: 38366133 DOI: 10.1002/cphc.202300924] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2023] [Revised: 01/20/2024] [Accepted: 02/15/2024] [Indexed: 02/18/2024]
Abstract
Electrolysis is a trend in producing hydrogen as a fuel for renewable energy development, and urea electrolysis is considered as one of the advanced electrolysis processes, where efficient materials still need to be explored. Notably, urea electrolysis came into existence to counter-part the electrode reactions in water electrolysis, which has hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Among those reactions, OER is sluggish and limits water splitting. Hence, urea electrolysis emerged with urea oxidation reaction (UOR) and HER as their reactions to tackle the water electrolysis. Among the explored materials, noble-metal catalysts are efficient, but their cost and scarcity limit the scaling-up of the Urea electrolysis. Hence, current challenges must be addressed, and novel efficient electrocatalysts are to be implemented to commercialize urea electrolysis technology. Phosphides, as an efficient UOR electrocatalyst, have gained huge attention due to their exceptional lattice structure geometry. The phosphide group benefits the water molecule adsorption and water dissociation, and facilitates the oxyhydrate of the metal site. This review summarizes recent trends in phosphide-based electrocatalysts for urea electrolysis, discusses synthesis strategies and crystal structure relationship with catalytic activity, and presents the challenges of phosphide electrocatalysts in urea electrolysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sanath Kumar
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Dong Hwa University, Shou-Feng, Hualien, 974301, Taiwan
| | - Gita B Bhanuse
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Dong Hwa University, Shou-Feng, Hualien, 974301, Taiwan
| | - Yen-Pei Fu
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Dong Hwa University, Shou-Feng, Hualien, 974301, Taiwan
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Medvedev JJ, Delva NH, Klinkova A. Mechanistic Analysis of Urea Electrooxidation Pathways: Key to Rational Catalyst Design. Chempluschem 2024:e202300739. [PMID: 38346095 DOI: 10.1002/cplu.202300739] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2023] [Revised: 02/07/2024] [Indexed: 02/29/2024]
Abstract
Urea electrolysis is an emerging approach to treating urea-enriched wastewater and an attractive alternative anodic process to the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in electrochemical clean energy conversion and storage technologies (e. g., hydrogen production and CO2 electroreduction). While the thermodynamic potential for urea oxidation to dinitrogen is quite low compared to that of the OER, the catalysts reported to date require high overpotentials that far exceed those for the OER. Consequently, there is much room for improvement and rational catalyst design for the urea oxidation reaction (UOR). At the same time, due to the urea molecule having a more complex structure than water, UOR can lead to the formation of various products beyond the commonly assumed N2 and CO2 . This concept article will critically assess recent efforts of the research community to decipher the formation mechanisms of UOR products focusing on the systematic analysis of the reaction selectivity. This work aims to analyze the current state of the art and identify existing gaps, providing an outlook for the future design of UOR catalysts with superior activity and selectivity by applying the knowledge of the molecular transformation mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jury J Medvedev
- Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave W, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 3G1
| | - Nyhenflore H Delva
- Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave W, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 3G1
| | - Anna Klinkova
- Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave W, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 3G1
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Zhong M, Yang J, Xu M, Ren S, Chen X, Wang C, Gao M, Lu X. Significantly Enhanced Energy-Saving H 2 Production Coupled with Urea Oxidation by Low- and Non-Pt Anchored on NiS-Based Conductive Nanofibers. SMALL (WEINHEIM AN DER BERGSTRASSE, GERMANY) 2024; 20:e2304782. [PMID: 37649181 DOI: 10.1002/smll.202304782] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2023] [Revised: 08/08/2023] [Indexed: 09/01/2023]
Abstract
Rational designing electrocatalysts is of great significance for realizing high-efficiency H2 production in the water splitting process. Generally, reducing the usage of precious metals and developing low-potential nucleophiles oxidation reaction to replace anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are efficient strategies to promote H2 generation. Here, NiS-coated nickel-carbon nanofibers (NiS@Ni-CNFs) are prepared for low-content Pt deposition (Pt-NiS@Ni-CNFs) to attain the alkaline HER catalyst. Due to the reconfiguration of NiS phase and synergistic effect between Pt and nickel sulfides, the Pt-NiS@Ni-CNFs catalyst shows a high mass activity of 2.74-fold of benchmark Pt/C sample. In addition, the NiS@Ni-CNFs catalyst performs a superior urea oxidation reaction (UOR) activity with the potential of 1.366 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) at 10 mA cm-2 , which demonstrates the great potential in the replacement of OER. Thus, a urea-assisted water splitting electrolyzer of Pt-NiS@Ni-CNFs (cathode)||NiS@Ni-CNFs (anode) is constructed to exhibit small voltages of 1.44 and 1.65 V to reach 10 and 100 mA cm-2 , which is much lower than its overall water splitting process, and presents a 6.5-fold hydrogen production rate enhancement. This work offers great opportunity to design new catalysts toward urea-assisted water splitting with significantly promoted hydrogen productivity and reduced energy consumption.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mengxiao Zhong
- Alan G. MacDiarmid Institute, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun, 130012, P. R. China
| | - Junyu Yang
- Division of Energy Materials, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, 116023, P. R. China
| | - Meijiao Xu
- Alan G. MacDiarmid Institute, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun, 130012, P. R. China
| | - Siyu Ren
- Alan G. MacDiarmid Institute, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun, 130012, P. R. China
| | - Xiaojie Chen
- Alan G. MacDiarmid Institute, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun, 130012, P. R. China
| | - Ce Wang
- Alan G. MacDiarmid Institute, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun, 130012, P. R. China
| | - Mingbin Gao
- National Engineering Research Center of Lower-Carbon Catalysis Technology, Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, 116023, P. R. China
| | - Xiaofeng Lu
- Alan G. MacDiarmid Institute, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun, 130012, P. R. China
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Wu TH, Liu YS, Hong CT, Hou BW. Binary and nanostructured NiMn perovskite fluorides as efficient electrocatalysts for urea oxidation reaction. J Colloid Interface Sci 2024; 653:1094-1102. [PMID: 37783009 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.09.153] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2023] [Revised: 09/21/2023] [Accepted: 09/24/2023] [Indexed: 10/04/2023]
Abstract
Urea electrolysis holds tremendous promise to provide green and sustainable energy and environmental solutions, because it can simultaneously remedy urea-containing wastewater and provide energy-saving hydrogen. However, the development of this emerging technology remains challenging mainly due to a dearth of high-performance electrocatalysts for efficient urea oxidation reaction (UOR). Perovskite fluorides have the advantages of intrinsic 3D diffusion pathways, robust architecture, and tunable chemical composition, thus receiving increasing attention in many applications. In this work, the UOR performances of a series of ABF3 samples (A = K; B = Ni/Mn, Ni/Co, Co/Mn) with various compositions are investigated in a systematic fashion for the first time. Among the binary samples, KNMF41 (Ni/Mn atomic ratio = 4:1) is the optimal sample with reduced overpotential (reaching 100 mA cm-2 at 1.43 V), low Tafel slope (40 mV dec-1), enhanced reaction rate constant (6.3 × 105 cm3 mol-1 s-1), and high turnover frequency (TOF, 0.19 s-1 at 1.60 V) toward urea oxidation. By comparing with NiCo and CoMn samples, the binary NiMn design is confirmed to endow the perovskite fluoride with higher electrocatalytic activity, thanks to the directed adsorption of urea molecules on the adjacent NiMn active sites. This work presents a targeted synthetic strategy for obtaining efficient electrocatalysts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tzu Ho Wu
- Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, 123 University Road, Section 3, Douliou, Yunlin 64002, Taiwan.
| | - Yong Shan Liu
- Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, 123 University Road, Section 3, Douliou, Yunlin 64002, Taiwan
| | - Chung Ting Hong
- Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, 123 University Road, Section 3, Douliou, Yunlin 64002, Taiwan
| | - Bo-Wei Hou
- Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, 123 University Road, Section 3, Douliou, Yunlin 64002, Taiwan
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Hou X, Ding J, Liu W, Zhang S, Luo J, Liu X. Asymmetric Coordination Environment Engineering of Atomic Catalysts for CO 2 Reduction. NANOMATERIALS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2023; 13:nano13020309. [PMID: 36678060 PMCID: PMC9866045 DOI: 10.3390/nano13020309] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2022] [Revised: 01/02/2023] [Accepted: 01/09/2023] [Indexed: 05/14/2023]
Abstract
Single-atom catalysts (SACs) have emerged as well-known catalysts in renewable energy storage and conversion systems. Several supports have been developed for stabilizing single-atom catalytic sites, e.g., organic-, metal-, and carbonaceous matrices. Noticeably, the metal species and their local atomic coordination environments have a strong influence on the electrocatalytic capabilities of metal atom active centers. In particular, asymmetric atom electrocatalysts exhibit unique properties and an unexpected carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO2RR) performance different from those of traditional metal-N4 sites. This review summarizes the recent development of asymmetric atom sites for the CO2RR with emphasis on the coordination structure regulation strategies and their effects on CO2RR performance. Ultimately, several scientific possibilities are proffered with the aim of further expanding and deepening the advancement of asymmetric atom electrocatalysts for the CO2RR.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xianghua Hou
- Center for Electron Microscopy and Tianjin Key Lab of Advanced Functional Porous Materials, Institute for New Energy Materials & Low-Carbon Technologies, School of Materials, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384, China
- MOE Key Laboratory of New Processing Technology for Non-Ferrous Metals and Materials, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Processing for Non-Ferrous Metals and Featured Materials, School of Resource, Environments and Materials, Nanning 530004, China
| | - Junyang Ding
- Center for Electron Microscopy and Tianjin Key Lab of Advanced Functional Porous Materials, Institute for New Energy Materials & Low-Carbon Technologies, School of Materials, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384, China
- Correspondence: (J.D.); (W.L.); (X.L.)
| | - Wenxian Liu
- College of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China
- Correspondence: (J.D.); (W.L.); (X.L.)
| | - Shusheng Zhang
- College of Chemistry, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China
| | - Jun Luo
- Center for Electron Microscopy and Tianjin Key Lab of Advanced Functional Porous Materials, Institute for New Energy Materials & Low-Carbon Technologies, School of Materials, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384, China
| | - Xijun Liu
- MOE Key Laboratory of New Processing Technology for Non-Ferrous Metals and Materials, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Processing for Non-Ferrous Metals and Featured Materials, School of Resource, Environments and Materials, Nanning 530004, China
- Correspondence: (J.D.); (W.L.); (X.L.)
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