Hydrogen Production In Reactor Research Articles

Heterostructuring Uniform 2D CdS on Ru/Ti3C2‐TiO2 via In situ Oxidized Ru‐Loaded MXene for Boosting Photocatalytic H2 Production

AbstractBuilding heterojunctions and exposing more catalytic active sites are effective strategies to enhance the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity. Herein, TiO2 nanosheets are oxidized in situ on Ru‐loaded MXene as carriers and subsequently loaded with uniform 2D CdS via hydrothermal method to obtain 2D Ru/Ti3C2‐TiO2/CdS composite photocatalysts that integrate heterojunctions and cocatalysts. The formation of heterojunction between CdS and TiO2 is conducive to promoting the separation and transfer of photogenerated charges, simultaneously, Ru/Ti3C2 with the fully exposed Ru and Ti3C2 can act as effective active sites of photocatalytic hydrogen production reaction. The composite photocatalyst exhibits an improved hydrogen production rate with 5479 µmol g−1 h−1, which is 5, 3, and four times more than that of pristine CdS, CdS loaded Ti3C2‐TiO2 and CdS loaded Ru‐TiO2 respectively. The results reveal that the notable enhancement in performance can primarily be ascribed to the introduction of the TiO2/CdS heterojunction and the efficient cocatalysts of Ru/Ti3C2. Moreover, the 2D Ti3C2 with high conductivity as carriers can increase charge transfer, and its 2D structure can serve as a template for growing 2D photocatalysts with higher activity. The interface engineering with multiple interfaces can offer novel insights for the advancement of efficient hydrogen evolution reaction catalysts.

Performance of a pilot-scale microbial electrolysis cell coupled with biofilm-based reactor for household wastewater treatment: simultaneous pollutant removal and hydrogen production.

The septic tank is the most commonly used decentralized wastewater treatment systems for household wastewater treatment in on-site applications. The removal rate of various pollutants is lower in different septic tank configurations. The integration of a microbial electrolysis cells (MEC) into septic tank or biofilm-based reactors can be a green and sustainable technology for household wastewater treatment and energy production. In this study, a 50-L septic tank was converted into a 50-L MEC coupled with biofilm-based reactor for simultaneous household wastewater treatment and hydrogen production. The biofilm-based reactor was integrated by an anaerobic packed-bed biofilm reactor (APBBR) and an aerobic moving bed biofilm reactor (aeMBBR). The MEC/APBBR/aeMBBR was evaluated at different organic loading rates (OLRs) by applying voltage of 0.7 and 1.0V. Result showed that the increase of OLRs from 0.2 to 0.44kg COD/m3 d did not affect organic matter removals. Nutrient and solids removal decreased with increasing OLR up to 0.44kg COD/m3 d. Global removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total nitrogen (TN), ammoniacal nitrogen (NH4+), total phosphorus (TP) and total suspended solids (TSS) removal ranged from 81 to 84%, 84 to 85%, 53 to 68%, 88 to 98%, 11 to 30% and 76 to 88% respectively, was obtained in this study. The current density generated in the MEC from 0 to 0.41 A/m2 contributed to an increase in hydrogen production and pollutants removal. The maximum volumetric hydrogen production rate obtained in the MEC was 0.007 L/L.d (0.072 L/d). The integration of the MEC into biofilm-based reactors applying a voltage of 1.0V generated different bioelectrochemical nitrogen and phosphorus transformations within the MEC, allowing a simultaneous denitrification-nitrification process with phosphorus removal.

Fe(III)-cycle enhanced carbon oxidation reaction for low-energy hydrogen production via water electrolysis

Integrating the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) with the carbon oxidation reaction (COR) is a promising method for producing H₂ with lower energy consumption. However, due to the passivation effect of oxygen functional groups (OFGs) for COR and Fe³⁺, achieving efficient and sustainable carbon oxidation to assist water electrolysis for hydrogen production remains a challenge over the past decades. This study introduced [EDTA·Fe(III)]– as a mediator to promote COR. [EDTA·Fe(III)]– effectively prevented the oxidation layer on the carbon surface from anchoring Fe (III) and reactivated the carbon that had been passivated by the oxidation layer. Density functional theory calculations indicated that the notable COR activity resulted from [EDTA·Fe(III)]– effectively lowering the vertical ionization potential of carbon, without being affected by OFGs. Notably, in the HER||COR-[EDTA·Fe(III)]– system, a cell voltage of merely 0.74 V is sufficient to reach a current density of 10 mA cm−2, with the corresponding energy consumption being 1.76 kWh Nm−3 (H2). This strategy offers new insights into achieving stable, low-energy hydrogen production via water electrolysis.

Coupling Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production with Key Oxidation Reactions.

Hydrogen represents a clean and sustainable energy source with wide applications in fuel cells and hydrogen energy storage systems. Photocatalytic strategies emerge as a green and promising solution for hydrogen production, which still reveals several critical challenges in enhancing the efficiency and stability and improving the whole value. This review systematically elaborates on various coupling approaches for photocatalytic hydrogen production, aiming to improve both efficiency and value through different oxidation half-reactions. Firstly, the fundamental mechanism is discussed for photocatalytic hydrogen production. Then, the advances, challenges, and opportunities are expanded for the coupling of photocatalytic hydrogen production, which focuses on the integration of value-added reactions including O2 production, H2O2 production, biomass conversion, alcohol oxidation, and pollutants treatment. Finally, the challenges and outlook of photocatalytic H2 production technology are analyzed from the aspects of coupling hydrogen production value, photocatalyst design and reaction system construction. This work presents a holistic view of the field, emphasizing the synergistic benefits of coupled reactions and their practical application potential, rather than focusing on catalysts or single reaction systems. This review provides valuable references for the development and application of photocatalytic hydrogen production in energy conversion and environmental conservation through sustainable, eco-friendly and economic pathways.

Coupling Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production with Key Oxidation Reactions

AbstractHydrogen represents a clean and sustainable energy source with wide applications in fuel cells and hydrogen energy storage systems. Photocatalytic strategies emerge as a green and promising solution for hydrogen production, which still reveals several critical challenges in enhancing the efficiency and stability and improving the whole value. This review systematically elaborates on various coupling approaches for photocatalytic hydrogen production, aiming to improve both efficiency and value through different oxidation half‐reactions. Firstly, the fundamental mechanism is discussed for photocatalytic hydrogen production. Then, the advances, challenges, and opportunities are expanded for the coupling of photocatalytic hydrogen production, which focuses on the integration of value‐added reactions including O2 production, H2O2 production, biomass conversion, alcohol oxidation, and pollutants treatment. Finally, the challenges and outlook of photocatalytic H2 production technology are analyzed from the aspects of coupling hydrogen production value, photocatalyst design and reaction system construction. This work presents a holistic view of the field, emphasizing the synergistic benefits of coupled reactions and their practical application potential, rather than focusing on catalysts or single reaction systems. This review provides valuable references for the development and application of photocatalytic hydrogen production in energy conversion and environmental conservation through sustainable, eco‐friendly and economic pathways.

Optimal pH condition for hydrogen production using δ-FeOOH under UV irradiation

δ-FeOOH was synthesized to produce hydrogen and its properties were investigated. Although δ-FeOOH has a band gap energy that absorbs sufficient visible light, it cannot produce hydrogen in the visible-light region. However, δ-FeOOH can successfully produce hydrogen under UV. These results indicate that the hydrogen production reaction with δ-FeOOH under UV irradiation is related to the photo-Fenton reaction. The hydrogen production ability was investigated by controlling the pH of the solution, which is an important factor in the photo-Fenton reaction. As the pH of the solution decreased, the amount of hydrogen produced increased. The crystal structures of δ-FeOOH before and after hydrogen production were compared, and it was confirmed that the two crystal structures were identical. This result represents that the photo-Fenton reaction is a circular reaction, and δ-FeOOH can produce hydrogen semi-permanently under UV.

Joint Electrons and Photons Transfer from Dual‐Functional WO3:Yb,Er to Zn0.5Cd0.5S for Efficient H2 Evolution

AbstractUtilization of the near‐infrared (NIR) light in the solar spectrum is critical for efficiency improvement of photocatalytic H2 evolution. However, common semiconductors have low response to the NIR light and narrow bandgap semiconductors have inappropriate redox potentials. Here, the study presents a new dual‐functional up‐conversion strategy in one sensitizer for promoting photocatalytic hydrogen production reactions by converting NIR light to visible light and high‐energy electrons simultaneously, via photon‐photon conversion and photo‐electronic process, respectively. Using WO3:Yb,Er as the sensitizer and Zn0.5Cd0.5S as the hydrogen evolution reaction catalyst, a photocatalytic hydrogen release rate of 24.3 mmol g−1 h−1 under simulated solar‐light has been achieved without using any co‐catalyst. After loading Ni2P as a co‐catalyst, the photocatalytic hydrogen production performance can be further improved to 41.3 mmol g−1 h−1 at 10 °C and 93.3 mmol g−1 h−1 under non‐temperature‐controlled conditions, exceeding most photocatalysts. This work offers a new strategy to improve the NIR light utilization of the solar‐light for promoting photocatalytic hydrogen generation through synergistic photo‐optical, photo‐electronic, and photo‐thermal effects.

Experimental study of the design and performance optimisation of a self-heating methanol on-board reforming reactor for hydrogen production

There is an increasing research on efficient and compact on-board reformer, based on which a serpentine plate type self-heating reformer integrating preheating, reforming and combustion has been designed and fabricated, which can be disassembled and assembled flexibly. In this paper, experiments on the self-heating reformer have been carried out to optimise the differential structure of different chambers. It can be found that: the combustion chamber needs to be partitioned and the resistance loss is small and stable for a long time when the number of partitions is 3. The combustion chamber with O2/CH3OH = 1.5 has the highest wall temperature of 240 °C. Hydrogen yield can be increased to more than two times after optimising the evaporation chamber. The catalyst in the reforming chamber must be uniformly distributed, and the methanol conversion rate is stable at 75 % with a mass of 110 g and Weight Hourly Space Velocity (WHSV) = 8 h−1. The optimum operating conditions of the reactor is WHSV = 8 h−1 with air flow rate of 25 L/min, at which the reactor starts up within 20 min, the hydrogen yield stabilises within 40 min, and the hydrogen yield is 9.8 L/min and remains stable for 120 min.

Metal oxide/chalcogenide/hydroxide catalysts for water electrolysis

Electrochemical water electrolysis has gained rapid and significant interest from scientists and researchers in hydrogen production to reduce the dependency on fossil fuels and hydrogen culture recognition worldwide soon. However, developing highly efficient, economical, and durable electrocatalysts with the replacement of noble-metal-based catalysts is essential for the large-scale practical application of this strategy. Due to heightened interest in this field, a series of various bifunctional catalysts have been developed, and several articles have been published on overall water splitting (OWS). Herein, we studied an extensive kind of recent literature on designing novel metal oxide/chalcogenide/hydroxide catalysts electrocatalysts ranging from metal oxide/hydroxide and metal chalcogenides for water electrolysis. This includes the analysis of characteristics of oxygen and hydrogen evolution reactions (OER/HER) and OWS in basic, acidic, and neutral media and indices for evaluating the performance of electrocatalysts at first and then synthesis routes to obtain metal oxide/chalcogenide/hydroxide electrocatalysts are critically reviewed. Finally, the prospects of activation strategies to enhance the performance of electrocatalysts and activity descriptors are discussed. Moreover, this review will provide a route for constructing high-performance noble-metal-free electrocatalysts in sustainable water electrolysis reactions for hydrogen production.

Hybrid magnetic nanocomposite NiFe2O4/TiO2 for Photocatalytic dye degradation and green hydrogen (H2) generation

The present paper focuses on designing and developing nanocomposites to modify their properties to increase the ability to generate hydrogen and degrade photocatalytic dyes. A nanocomposite of nickel ferrite (NiFe2O4)/Titanium dioxide (TiO2) was formulated using the sol-gel self-ignition method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) tool was adopted to analyze the structural behavior of pure nickel ferrite (NiFe2O4), pure titanium dioxide (TiO2), and nanocomposite of NiFe2O4/TiO2. XRD pattern of NiFe2O4 and TiO2 shows a monophasic nature whereas the XRD pattern of nanocomposites shows mixed phases of NiFe2O4 and TiO2. FTIR spectra confirm the formation of NiFe2O4, TiO2, and their composites with absorption bands near 400 cm-1 and 600 cm-1, 1500 cm-1. Raman spectra unveiled the presence of five active Raman modes in the case of NiFe2O4 whereas three active Raman modes are seen in TiO2. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) images exposed the dense structure with spherical cluster-like morphology in the case of NiFe2O4. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analysis confirms the presence of all the desired elements of NiFe2O4, TiO2, and their composites in stoichiometric proportions. BET analysis of nickel ferrite NPs suggests a large surface area of the order of 31.54 m2/gm in comparison with TiO2 (19.23 m2/gm). The optical characterization was made through the UV-visible spectroscopic technique. TiO2 shows a maximum band gap of the order of 3.02 eV while NiFe2O4 shows a low band gap of the order of 1.74 eV. A typical M-H curve with saturation magnetization of the order of 27.54 emu/gm was observed for pure NiFe2O4. No magnetic properties were observed for TiO2 as it is a semiconductor. Enhancement in magnetic properties is observed with increases in NiFe2O4 content in a composite of NiFe2O4/TiO2. The photocatalytic activities were examined by degrading Methylene Blue (MB) dye under sunlight for pure nickel ferrite (NiFe2O4), pure titanium dioxide (TiO2), and a nanocomposite of NiFe2O4/TiO2. Photocatalytic hydrogen production reactions were carried out in a methanol/water solution under visible light. Consequently, the best configuration of the photocatalyst was determined as 25% wt% NiFe2O4/ TiO2 which had shown the maximum hydrogen (H2) production rate as 146.3 μmol/g/h after 8 h owing to its reduced bandgap energy and delayed e- / h+ recombination.

NiCoMn phosphides-based 3D nanoflowers as universal electrocatalyst towards hydrogen evolution reaction at all pH values

In addressing the pH constraints encountered in real-world electrolyte environments, it is of great practical significance to establish a universal electrocatalyst capable of facilitating the hydrogen production reaction (HER) across all pH levels. Herein, non-precious metals NiCoMn were incorporated into a nickel foam skeleton and subjected to phosphorization treatment, yielding the NiCoMn-O-P@NF catalyst suitable for HER across the entire pH spectrum. Leveraging the synergistic effects of these three metals and phosphating regulation, the synthesized NiCoMn-O-P@NF demonstrates efficient HER catalytic performance in acidic (−0.05 VRHE at 10 mA cm−2), alkaline (−0.17 VRHE at 10 mA cm−2), and neutral (−0.25 VRHE at 10 mA cm−2) electrolytes, with exceptional stability. This study presents a cost-effective electrocatalyst with robust and enduring catalytic performance for HER over the full pH range, offering an environmentally friendly solution to the challenges of practical hydrogen generation.

Modeling gas holdup in a multiphase oxygen slurry bubble column reactor for Cu-Cl hydrogen production using CFD

The hydrodynamics of the oxygen bubble column reactor is investigated numerically using CFD analyses to predict the values of the gas holdup using Eulerian model and k−ε turbulence method. It is shown that, at any given static liquid height and solid concentration, increasing the superficial gas velocity leads to a higher gas holdup. Also, the gas holdup reduces when the static liquid height increases and/or the solid concentration increases at any given superficial gas velocity. All gas holdup findings were verified by experimental results from prior literature, showing excellent agreement and validating the models' applicability to this kind of a slurry bubble column system. Profiles of gas holdup obtained from CFD simulations were shown to generally under-predict the experimental data. Also, it is shown that CFD models accurately anticipated the experimental effects of the superficial gas velocity, static liquid height, and solid concentration on gas holdup.

Oxygen vacancy modulation for enhanced hydrogen production via chemical looping water-gas shift

Chemical looping water gas shift (CL-WGS)is prospective to generate high-purity hydrogen with integrated CO2 capture. However, this technology is impeded by the lack of active oxygen carriers at mid-temperatures. Here, we synthesized several Ni-doped CoFe2O4-δ to modulate oxygen vacancies and investigate its effect on promoting hydrogen production reaction via chemical looping water gas shift at 650 °C. The findings delineate that doping Ni considerably lowers the energy barriers associated with the oxygen vacancies formation, thereby augmenting their concentration. The underlying mechanism elucidates that within the CL-WGS process, the transfer of lattice oxygen acts as the rate-limiting step. NixCo1-xFe2O4 lowers the formation energy of oxygen vacancies and facilitates the bulk lattice oxygen diffusion through the bulk. Hence, Ni0.5Co0.5Fe2O4 demonstrates the most reduction depth and reversibility via redox reactions, resulting in an elevated hydrogen yield (∼15.5 mmol g−1) at 650 °C, which surpasses the yield from undoped CoFe2O4 by 1.4 times. This performance remains consistently high with only a minimal decline over 100 cycles. The findings introduce a promising approach to promote the reactivity of oxygen carriers, particularly for mid-temperature applications.

Unveiling the Role of Boron on Nickel‐Based Catalyst for Efficient Urea Oxidation Assisted Hydrogen Production

AbstractUrea oxidation reaction (UOR) is an ideal alternative to oxygen evolution reaction (OER) for efficient hydrogen production but is immensely plagued by slow kinetics. Herein, a multilayer hole amorphous boron‐nickel catalyst (a‐NiBx) is fabricated through a simple chemical plating method, which displays intriguing catalytic activity toward UOR, demanding a low working potential of 1.4 V to reach 100 mA cm−2. The high performance is credited to the formation of metaborate (BO2−), which can promote the formation of high‐oxidation‐state NiOOH active phase and optimize the adsorption of urea molecules. This can be confirmed by the operando spectroscopy characteristics and density functional theory calculations. Consequently, the assembled electrolyzer utilizing NiBx as bifunctional catalysts exhibited splendid catalytic activity, requiring an evidently lower voltage of 1.66 V to reach a current density of 100 mA cm−2 and 1.57 V when using Pt/C as a cathode catalyst. Moreover, the assembled electrolyzer secured a robust stability of over 200 h, as well as a four times higher hydrogen production rate than traditional water electrolysis.

Atomically L12 ordered (PtHf)x(NiTi)100-x/CNT as bifunctional catalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction and methanol oxidation reaction with high activity and durability

Instead of a sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER), a methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) is combined with a hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) for efficient hydrogen production. Here, by data-driven and density functional theory (DFT) calculation, we establish a combined theoretical–and experimental strategy for designing L12 ordered structures. Based on L12-PtNiTi, Hf element is added. Hf atoms occupy the α-site (face-centered site of FCC) with Pt. Ni atoms occupy the β-site (corner site of FCC) with Ti. The (PtHf)x(NiTi)100-x nano-alloy maintains L12 structure, enhancing intrinsic anti-poisonous performance and reducing Pt content. L12 (PtHf)50(NiTi)50/CNT exhibits an overpotential of 19 mV for HER and a mass activity of 4.725 A/mgPt for MOR in acidic electrolyte. For coupling HER with MOR, the working voltage is merely 0.55 V at 10 mA cm−2. It is demonstrated by DFT calculations that ordered (PtHf)50(NiTi)50/CNT has superior electrocatalytic performance attributed to smaller H adsorption energy, stronger OH binding energy and weaker CO adsorption energy.

Single-atom platinum promotes Cu(I)/Cu(II) redox loop of Cu aerogels for efficient glucose electrooxidation

Glucose oxidation reaction (GOR) is emerging as a promising alternative to the sluggish anodic oxygen evolution reaction for hydrogen production in energy-saving water electrolysis. Cu-based electrocatalysts hold natural superiority for GOR, which is limited by the slow Cu(I)/Cu(II) redox loop. Here, we synthesize Cu50Pt aerogels with Pt single atom (SA) to enhance GOR activity with an accelerated Cu(I)/Cu(II) redox loop compared to Cu aerogels. Experimental and theoretical investigations elucidate that Pt SA boosts the adsorption and activation capacity of OHads, promoting the hydroxylation of Cu(I) into Cu(II) active species through hydroxyl spillover. Moreover, the optimized electronic structure of Cu by Pt SA facilitates the glucose adsorption, the dehydrogenation process of C5H11O5CHO* to C5H11O5CO* and the release of products, thus promoting the hydroxyl deintercalation of Cu(II) sites into Cu(I). Notably, the Pt SA-assisted plasma effect of Cu further enhances the GOR activity and reduces the power consumption of hydrogen production by promoting the Cu(I)/Cu(II) redox loop. This work provides new insights into high-performance biomass electrooxidation catalysts via accelerating the redox cycle of reactive metal for electrochemical energy technologies.

Modulating local coordination structure over single Pt atom to optimize adsorption behavior for high-efficiency photocatalytic H2 production

The development of single-atom photocatalysts featuring precisely defined coordination structure is of great significance for elucidating the correlations between catalytic performances and coordination structures, yet it remains a grand challenge. Herein, the asymmetric/symmetric Pt-Nx moieties in carbon nitride (denoted as Pt-Nx@MCT, x equals to a coordination number of 3 or 4) are elaborately constructed by a coordination structure regulation strategy. The hydrogen production performances of Pt-N3@MCT and Pt-N4@MCT photocatalysts display a relationship with the Pt-N coordination numbers, with Pt-N3@MCT showing a photocatalytic activity (195 μmol h−1) 3 times that of Pt-N4@MCT (65 μmol h−1) and an apparent quantum yield of 34.1 % at 420 nm. The asymmetric Pt-N3 moiety in Pt-N3@MCT acts as electron collector to promote the separation and transfer of charge carriers and to create the higher occupied Pt d orbital, weakening the bond strength between hydrogen intermediates and Pt atomic sites and accelerating hydrogen production reaction kinetics in Pt-N3@MCT.

Nonlinear dynamics of a membrane reactor for hydrogen production: Multiplicity of equilibrium solutions and inhibition effects

Membrane reactors for the production of hydrogen are interesting devices that allow for the decentralized production of pure hydrogen while reducing the energy cost of the traditional steam reforming process. The performance of these systems is strongly dependent on the permeability and selectivity of the membrane employed for the separation of the produced hydrogen. Several studies have shown that the actual rate of hydrogen permeation is lower than the one that would be expected based on studies of membrane permeability carried out with pure hydrogen. This difference has been attributed to the competitive adsorption of other species, specifically CO, on the membrane surface. Here we show that this phenomenon could also lead to steady state multiplicity and analyze the dynamics of membrane reactors in the presence of competitive adsorption by CO. Emphasis has been placed on the effect of temperature and gas composition on possible multistable behavior. The results have been interpreted in terms of a transition between kinetics- and permeation-controlled regimes, in which the behavior of the reactor is limited, respectively, by the rate of the chemical reactions or the rate of hydrogen permeation.

Cu0·1In0·01/S-1 catalysts with high efficiency towards methanol steam reforming

Cu0·1/S-1, Cu0·1Zn0·01/S-1, Cu0.1Inx/S-1 (x = 0.01, 0.03, 0.05) and Cu0·1Ce0·01/S-1 were successfully prepared with S-1 as the carrier material and applied to methanol steam reforming (MSR) reaction. To further explore its chemical and physical properties, XRD, BET, SEM-EDS, ICP, FTIR, H2-TPR, NH3-TPD, CO2-TPD, and Raman were used to characterize the synthetic S-1 zeolite catalysts. The measured physicochemical properties revealed that utilizing S-1 zeolite as the carrier effectively altered the size of the metal particles, enhancing their dispersion and reduction characteristics. Compared with five different types of S-1 zeolite catalysts, the Cu0·1In0·01/S-1 catalyst has a large specific surface area and pore size. It exhibited superior active metal dispersion, with the lowest reduction temperature for the active metal CuO. The catalyst also showed a high Lewis acid content on its surface, forming the In-Lewis acid site. Consequently, the Cu0·1In0·01/S-1 catalyst exhibits exceptional performance in methanol steam reforming for hydrogen production reactions. It exhibited the best performance with a methanol conversion rate of 100%, H2 selectivity of 100% under the conditions of 1 MPa, 250 °C, the S/C molar ratio of 2.5, and the WHSV of 0.5 h−1, which outperforms most of the reported catalysts in methanol steam reforming.© 2023 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Binary Ni/NiO–NiWO4 with highly activity and durability for the enhanced oxidation of urea

Urea oxidation reaction (UOR) can be used as an alternative to oxygen evolution reaction (OER) for hydrogen production by electrolysis of water, and as an anode reaction for direct urea fuel cells (DUFC). However, the slow kinetics of UOR restricts its wide application. Therefore, it is of great significance to design and prepare cheap and high-performance non-noble metal based UOR catalysts. In this work, Ni/NiO–NiWO4-2 sample prepared by solvent evaporation method has a mesoporous feature verified by the structural characterization, which is conducive to electrolyte diffusion and electron transport. Electrochemical tests show that the Ni/NiO–NiWO4-2 sample has good UOR catalytic activity, namely, the potential required by UOR is 1.669 V (vs RHE) at the current density of 270.44 mA cm−2. The excellent performance of Ni/NiO–NiWO4-2 is ascribed to that its mesoporous structure facilitates the diffusion of the electrolyte and exposes more active areas, the existence of metal W weakens the poisoning of Ni3+ active components and reduces the energy barrier of UOR confirmed by density functional theory, thus enhancing the performance of UOR.