Issue 7, 2022

Strategies for designing more efficient electrocatalysts towards the urea oxidation reaction

Abstract

The urea oxidation reaction (UOR) is a pivotal half-reaction for urea-assisted water splitting to produce hydrogen, direct urea fuel cells and electrochemical degradation of urea-containing wastewater. However, the intrinsic sluggish kinetics of the UOR hampers the real application of these urea-based technologies. Therefore, highly efficient electrocatalysts are required to promote the urea oxidation process. During the past several years, great achievements in both catalyst design and mechanism understanding have been made in this research area. This perspective starts with the discussion of the reaction mechanism of the UOR. Afterwards, we propose and discuss five typical strategies for designing efficient UOR electrocatalysts including promoting the *COO desorption step, developing electrocatalysts with high oxidation states, facilitating the generation of catalytically active species, constructing dual active sites, and heterojunction catalysts via featured examples. Lastly, we conclude this perspective by outlining the remaining challenges, and exploring the future opportunities in this emerging field.

Graphical abstract: Strategies for designing more efficient electrocatalysts towards the urea oxidation reaction

Article information

Article type
Perspective
Submitted
22 nov 2021
Accepted
12 jan 2022
First published
12 jan 2022

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2022,10, 3296-3313

Strategies for designing more efficient electrocatalysts towards the urea oxidation reaction

D. Zhu, H. Zhang, J. Miao, F. Hu, L. Wang, Y. Tang, M. Qiao and C. Guo, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2022, 10, 3296 DOI: 10.1039/D1TA09989B

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements