Stabilizing efficient structures of superwetting electrocatalysts for enhanced urea oxidation reactions

DOI: 10.1016/j.checat.2022.09.023

Authors: Jichao Zhang (University College London) , Xuedan Song (Dalian University of Technology) , Liqun Kang (Max-Planck-Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion) , Jiexin Zhu (Wuhan University of Technology) , Longxiang Liu (University College London) , Qing Zhang (Dalian University of Technology) , Dan J. I. Brett (University College London) , Paul R. Shearing (University College London) , Liqiang Mai (Wuhan University of Technology) , Ivan P. Parkin (University College London) , Guanjie He (University College London (UCL))
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Chem Catalysis , VOL 121

State: Published (Approved)
Published: October 2022
Diamond Proposal Number(s): 29340 , 29271

Abstract: Layered hydroxides have shown superior catalytic activity for the electrocatalytic organic compound oxidation reaction. However, metal leaching can lead to uncontrollable structural phase transformation. Here, we report a Cr-Ni(OH)2 electrocatalyst as a model of a pre-catalyst for the identification of the structure-performance relationship. The optimized electrocatalyst delivered superb performances, i.e., a low potential of 1.38 V (versus reversible hydrogen electrode [RHE]) to reach 100 mA cm−2 and stable activity over 200 h at 10 mA cm−2. In situ analyses and theoretical calculations demonstrate that well-tuned electronic structures and the superhydrophilic-superaerophobic surface can enable rapid urea oxidation reaction (UOR) kinetics, which reduces the specific adsorption OH− and significantly depresses Cr dopants leaching, and this helps to maintain high UOR performance. Furthermore, the crucial role of mass transfer improvement to alleviate the structural decay under high potentials is disclosed.

Journal Keywords: urea oxidation reaction; stabilized structures; modified triple-phase boundary; high performance

Subject Areas: Chemistry


Instruments: B07-B-Versatile Soft X-ray beamline: High Throughput , B18-Core EXAFS

Added On: 19/10/2022 10:04

Documents:
1-s2.0-S2667109322005152-main.pdf

Discipline Tags:

Physical Chemistry Catalysis Chemistry

Technical Tags:

Spectroscopy X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) Near Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structures (NEXAFS)