Modulating the electronic structure of CoS by Sn doping boosting urea oxidation for efficient alkaline hydrogen production.

Urea electrocatalytic oxidation afforded by renewable energies is highly promising to replace the sluggish oxygen evolution reaction in water splitting for hydrogen production while realizing the treatment of urea-rich waste water. Therefore, the development of efficient and cost-effective catalysts for water splitting assisted by urea is highly desirable. Herein, Sn-doped CoS electrocatalysts were reported with the engineered electronic structure and the formation of Co-Sn dual active sites for urea oxidation reaction (UOR) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), respectively. Consequently, the number of active sites and the intrinsic activity were enhanced simultaneously and the resultant electrodes exhibited outstanding electrocatalytic activity with a very low potential of 1.301 V at 10 mA·cm for UOR and an overpotential of 132 mV at 10 mA·cm for HER. Therefore, a two-electrode device was assembled by employing Sn(2)-CoS/CC and Sn(5)-CoS/CC and the constructed cell required only 1.45 V to approach a current density of 10 mA·cm along with good durability for at least 95 h assisted by urea. More importantly, the assembled electrolyzer can be powered by commercial dry battery to generate numerous gas bubbles on the surface of the electrodes, demonstrating the high potential of the as-fabricated electrodes for applications in hydrogen production and pollutant treatment at a low-voltage electrical energy input.