A porous Ni3N nanosheet array as a high-performance non-noble-metal catalyst for urea-assisted electrochemical hydrogen production

Qin Liu; Lisi Xie; Fengli Qu; Zhiang Liu; Gu Du; Abdullah M. Asiri; Xuping Sun

doi:10.1039/C7QI00185A

A porous Ni₃N nanosheet array as a high-performance non-noble-metal catalyst for urea-assisted electrochemical hydrogen production†

Qin Liu,^a Lisi Xie,^a Fengli Qu,^b Zhiang Liu,^b Gu Du,^c Abdullah M. Asiri

^d and Xuping Sun*^a

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a Chemical Synthesis and Pollution Control, Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, China West Normal University, Nanchong 637002, Sichuan, China
E-mail: sunxp@cwnu.edu.cn, sunxp@scu.edu.cn

^b College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Qufu Normal University, Qufu 273165, Shandong, China

^c Chengdu Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, Chengdu 610081, Sichuan, China

^d Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Developing highly efficient and non-noble-metal catalysts is of great importance for electrochemical energy storage and conversion. In this communication, we report the development of a porous Ni₃N nanosheet array on carbon cloth (Ni₃N NA/CC) as a high-performance and durable electrocatalyst for urea oxidation. To drive 10 mA cm⁻², this Ni₃N NA/CC only demands a potential of 1.35 V in 1.0 M KOH with 0.33 M urea. The high catalytic activity of the hydrogen evolution reaction enables Ni₃N NA/CC as a bifunctional catalyst electrode for electrochemical hydrogen production and the two-electrode electrolyzer is capable of offering 10 mA cm⁻² at a cell voltage of only 1.44 V, 120 mV less than that for the urea-free counterpart.

This article is part of the themed collection: Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers HOT articles for 2017

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Article information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C7QI00185A
Article type: Research Article
Submitted: 06 Apr 2017
Accepted: 08 May 2017
First published: 08 May 2017

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Inorg. Chem. Front., 2017,4, 1120-1124

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A porous Ni₃N nanosheet array as a high-performance non-noble-metal catalyst for urea-assisted electrochemical hydrogen production

Q. Liu, L. Xie, F. Qu, Z. Liu, G. Du, A. M. Asiri and X. Sun, Inorg. Chem. Front., 2017, 4, 1120 DOI: 10.1039/C7QI00185A

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