Porous Ni2P nanoflower supported on nickel foam as an efficient three-dimensional electrode for urea electro-oxidation in alkaline medium

Abstract

Porous Ni2P nanoflower supported on nickel foam (Ni2P@Ni foam) electrodes are synthesized via a simple hydrothermal growth strategy accompanied with further phosphating treatment. The prepared electrodes are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Electro-catalytic performances towards urea electro-oxidation are tested by cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry (CA) coupled with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). By phosphating Ni(OH)2 precursor, the final obtained Ni2P@Ni foam electrode presents a porous Ni2P nanoflower structure within abundant porosity, and so exposes a large amount of electro-catalytic active sites and electronic transmission channels to accelerate the interfacial reaction. Compared with Ni(OH)2@Ni foam precursor, the Ni2P@Ni foam catalyst exhibits more excellent electro-catalytic activity as well as lower onset oxidation potential. Remarkably, the Ni2P@Ni foam catalyst reaches a peak current density of 750 mA cm−2 with an onset oxidation potential of 0.24 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) accompanied by an excellent stability in 0.60 M urea with 5.00 M KOH solutions. Benefiting from the unique porous nanosheet structure, the as-synthesized Ni2P@Ni foam catalyst performs a highly enhanced catalytic behavior for alkaline urea electro-oxidation, indicating that the material can be hopefully applied in direct urea fuel cells.