Heterojunction‐Induced Rapid Transformation of Ni3+/Ni2+ Sites which Mediates Urea Oxidation for Energy‐Efficient Hydrogen Production

• DOI: 10.1002/adma.202311766
• Publication Date: 2024-01-16T16:15:31Z
• Authors: Peng Guo; Shoufu Cao; Wenjing Huang; Xiaoqing Lu; Weizhe Chen; Youzi Zhang; Yijin Wang; Xu Xin; Ruiqing Zou; Sibi Liu; Xuanhua Li
• Keywords: Overpotential; Oxygen evolution

Abstract Water electrolysis is an environmentally‐friendly strategy for hydrogen production but suffers from significant energy consumption. Substituting urea oxidation reaction (UOR) with lower theoretical voltage water adopting nickel‐based electrocatalysts engenders reduced consumption production. The main obstacle remains strong interaction between accumulated Ni 3+ and *COO in the conventional ‐catalyzing pathway. Herein, a novel /Ni 2+ mediated pathway UOR via constructing heterojunction of nickel metaphosphate telluride (Ni 2 P 4 O 12 /NiTe), which efficiently lowers barrier avoids accumulation excessive adsorption on electrocatalysts, developed. As result, /NiTe demonstrates exceptionally low potential 1.313 V to achieve current density 10 mA cm −2 toward efficient while simultaneously showcases overpotential merely 24 mV at evolution reaction. Constructing electrolyzer using both sides attains 100 cell 1.475 along excellent stability over 500 h accompanied nearly 100% Faradic efficiency.