Hairy sphere-like Ni9S8/CuS/Cu2O composites grown on nickel foam as bifunctional electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution and urea electrooxidation

Abstract The urea solution electrolysis has become more attractive than water splitting, because it not only produces clean H2 via the cathodic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) with lower cell voltage, but also treats sewage containing urea through anodic urea oxidation reaction (UOR). However, lack of efficient electrocatalysts for HER and UOR has limited its development. Herein, hairy sphere -like Ni9S8/CuS/Cu2O composites were synthesized on nickel foam (NF) in situ by a two-step hydrothermal method. The Ni9S8/CuS/Cu2O/NF exhibited good electrocatalytic activity for both HER (−0.146 V vs. RHE to achieve 10 mA cm−2) and UOR (1.357 V vs. RHE to achieve 10 mA cm−2). Based on the bifunctional properties of Ni9S8/CuS/Cu2O/NF, a dual-electrode urea solution electrolytic cell was constructed, which only needed a low voltage of 1.47 V to reach a current density of 10 mA cm−2, and displayed a good stability during a 20-h test. In addition, the reason for the good catalytic activity of Ni9S8/CuS/Cu2O/NF was analyzed and the UOR mechanism was discussed in detail. Our research shows that Ni9S8/CuS/Cu2O/NF is a very promising low-cost dual-function electrocatalyst, which can be used for high-efficiency electrolysis of urea solution to produce hydrogen and treat wastewater.