ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Prussian blue analogue-derived porous bimetallic oxides Fe₃O₄–NiO/NF as urea oxidation electrocatalysis

Miaomiao Han and Gang Yan

School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Jilin University of Architecture and Technology, Changchun, China

E-mail: yang431@nenu.edu.cn

Received: 3 January 2020  Accepted: 21 June 2020

Abstract:

Electrocatalytic urea oxidation reaction (UOR), as an important half-reaction of the direct urea fuel cell, has an important application in the fields of electricity generation, hydrogen production from urea-containing wastewater and urea wastewater treatment. However, the intrinsically sluggish reaction rate of UOR restircts its application. It is urgent to prepare advanced electrocatalysts with high catalytic activity and durability. Herein, we report a bimetallic oxide catalyst Fe₃O₄–NiO/NF with porous nanostructure derived from Prussian blue analogue. The prepared catalyst has a high BET surface area (79 m² g⁻¹) and mesoporous structure. Fe₃O₄–NiO/NF has remarkable UOR activity compared with NiFe(CN)₆/NF, the required potential for Fe₃O₄–NiO/NF decreased from 1.5 to 1.44 V to reach current density of 10 mA cm⁻², and the Tafel slope decreased from 38.7 to 32.5 mV dec⁻¹. The advanced porous nanostructure and abundant redox couple of Ni³⁺/Ni²⁺ and Fe³⁺/Fe²⁺ make Fe₃O₄–NiO/NF to be a promising UOR catalyst. This study provides a universal optimization strategy of structure and composition for designing advanced UOR electrocatalysts.

Keywords: Urea oxidation reaction; Prussian blue analogues; Metallic oxides

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-020-01260-9

Chemical Papers 74 (12) 4473–4480 (2020)