Bimetallic MoO3/Ni-N-C Nanoalloys Derived from MOFs for Electrocatalytic Urea Oxidation Reaction

In electrochemical energy storage and conversion systems,ureaoxidation reaction (UOR) can produce hydrogen and mitigate pollutionfrom urea-rich wastewater in a low-energy manner, whereas the developmentof this technique was limited via a lack of economical and cost-effectiveUOR catalysts. Herein, a unique electrocatalyst of MoO3/Ni-N-C was synthesized from a Mo element-incorporated Ni-MOF byheating under an inert atmosphere. The prepared MoO3/Ni-N-Celectrode shows superior activity toward UOR, which only needs a lowpotential of 1.42 V (vs RHE) at 50 mA cm(-2) in 1.0M KOH with 0.5 M urea. The excellent performance for UOR is attributedto the synergistic effect between molybdenum and nickel, the modulationof the electronic structure for the nickel site by MoO3, accelerating the charge transfer, and tuning the reaction interfaceadsorption energy to enhance electrocatalytic activity. This workprovides strategies and directions for exploring other advanced UORelectrode material designs.