Ni-doped VOOH as an efficient electrocatalyst for urea oxidation

Abstract Vanadium-based materials have been widely applied in rechargeable batteries due to their great electrochemical properties. However, they are seldomly used as electrocatalysts for urea oxidation reaction (UOR). In this study, Ni-doped VOOH (VOOH-Ni) was prepared by hydrothermal method and the UOR catalytic activity was studied. The results show that the potential at 10 mA cm−2 is only 1.356 V vs RHE, suggesting a high UOR performance. In addition, the VOOH-Ni also displayed a high stability during the 10-h stability test. This study verifies the feasibility of V-based compounds as UOR electrocatalysts and will be beneficial to develop more novel and efficient catalysts.