Highly efficient urea oxidation via nesting nano nickel oxide in eggshell membrane-derived carbon

Shun Lu, Matthew Hummel, Zhengrong Gu*, Yucheng Wang, Keliang Wang, Rajesh Pathak, Yue Zhou, Hongxing Jia, Xueqiang Qi*, Xianhui Zhao, Ben Bin Xu, Terence Liu*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

101 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

Here, we reported a strategy of using an eggshell membrane to produce hierarchically porous carbon as a low-cost substrate for synthesizing a nano-nickel oxide catalyst (C@NiO), which can effectively turn biowaste—urea—into energy through an electrochemical approach. The interwoven carbon networks within NiO led to highly efficient urea oxidation due to the strong synergistic effect. The as-prepared electrode only needed 1.36 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode to realize a high efficiency of 10 mA cm–2 in 1.0 M KOH with 0.33 M urea and delivered an even higher current density of 25 mA cm–2 at 1.46 V, which is smaller than that of the porous carbon and commercial Pt/C catalyst. Benefiting from theoretical calculations, Ni(III) active species and the porous carbon further enabled the electrocatalyst to effectively inhibit the “CO2 poisoning” of electrocatalysts, as well as ensuring its superior performance for urea oxidation.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1703-1713
Number of pages11
JournalACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering
Volume9
Issue number4
Early online date15 Jan 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Feb 2021

Keywords

  • density functional theory
  • eggshell membrane
  • nickel oxide
  • porous carbon substrate
  • urea oxidation

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