Electrocatalyst based on Ni₂P nanoparticles and NiCoP nanosheets for efficient hydrogen evolution from urea wastewater

Urea electrolysis is a promising approach to produce hydrogen while simultaneously purifying urea-rich wastewater. In practice, it is highly desirable but still challenging, through the structure construction strategy, to implement a method with controllable synthesis of ultra-thin nanosheet arrays with rich interfaces, and then apply them into the catalysis operations of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and urea oxidation reaction (UOR). In this work, the bifunctional electrocatalyst Ni₂P/NiCoP nanosheets anchored nickel foam (NF) were prepared with ultra-thin rich interfaces by regulating the Co– and P-doping. The results showed that the elaborated Ni₂P/NiCoP/NF electrode delivered the excellent electrocatalytic activities for both UOR and HER operations. Particularly for UOR, it required only a cell voltage of 1.41 V at 100 mA cm⁻², which was 400 mV lower than that in the traditional overall water splitting operation.