A facile oxidation–dehydration reaction-driven robust porous copper oxide nanobelt coating on copper foam for an energy-saving and low-cost urea oxidization reaction

We fabricated a robust porous copper oxide nanobelt coating on copper foam by a facile oxidation-dehydration reaction, which is firstly reported as a low-cost pure copper-based urea oxidization catalyst. This catalyst has enriched electrochemically active surface area, abudant nanopores and micropores for gas and electrolyte diffusion, and high conductivity from copper foam for electron transfer and herein shows superior UOR performance, outperforming noble metal catalysts or most of the as-reported nonprecious metal UOR catalysts especially at high current density.