Electrochemical Urea Oxidation in Different Environment: From Mechanism to Devices

Abstract Urea has been regarded as an important chemical compound in the food‐water‐energy nexus. However, the emission of urea from human activity, industrial manufacture, and agricultural fertilization into the environment has caused an ecological nitrogen imbalance. Besides addressing the environmental pollution, the applications of clean energy conversion from urea‐rich wastewater has strong potential for resource and energy recovery. Herein, we conducted a comprehensive overview of electrochemical urea oxidation reaction (UOR) for pollution control and energy harvesting. The present mechanisms and behaviors of UOR under different water matrices have been characterized and compared in detail. Additionally, the latest development of electrochemical UOR integrated into electrolyzers and fuel cells are presented. Finally, we discuss the prospects and challenges of UOR technologies, suggesting several directions for the electrochemical conversion of urea‐abundant wastewater in the near future.