NiMoO4 nanoparticles embedded in nanoporous carbon nanosheets derived from peanut shells: Efficient electrocatalysts for urea oxidation

Electrochemical oxidation of urea had aroused worldwide attention in environment and energy storage fields. However, urea electrooxidation reaction still suffered from the sluggish kinetics owing to a 6e− transfer processes involvement. In this work, nanoporous carbon nanosheets (Cps) derived from peanut shells (PS) were synthesized via two pyrolysis steps along with KOH activation. NiMoO4 nanoparticles were then embedded in Cps via a facile impregnation method. The as-prepared catalyst possessed large surface area and the embedded NiMoO4 nanoparticles exhibited small size with average diameter of 10 nm. The chemical properties of NiMoO4 could be also tuned after embedded in Cps. When used as catalyst for urea electrooxidation reaction, NiMoO4 embedded in Cps exhibited superior catalytic performance. NiMoO4 nanoparticles with small size could expose more active sites, the interface interaction between NiMoO4 and Cps could promote charge transfer and the existence of Mo species could improve the stability of the catalyst. Therefore, the as-prepared NiMoO4 embedded in Cps should be a promising catalyst in wastewater treatment and energy storage.