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Nickel-based Catalysts for Urea Electro-oxidation

Yan, Wei
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1391419479

Abstract Details

2014, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, Chemical Engineering (Engineering and Technology).
Human/animal urine and the industrial synthesis process of urea produce a large amount of urea-rich wastewater every day. The untreated urea-rich wastewater results in severe environmental contamination and human health problems as urea can naturally hydrolyze into toxic ammonia poisoning ground water and polluting air. Urea electrolysis, proposed by Dr. Gerardine Botte at Ohio University, has proven to be a promising technology for the remediation of urea-rich wastewater with the acquisition of high-purity hydrogen. Urea electro-oxidation is the anode reaction of urea electrolysis. Improving the kinetics of urea electro-oxidation is crucial for the development of urea electrolysis. Nickel has been regarded as an effective catalytic component for the urea electro-oxidation reaction. However, there is potential to improve the anode catalysis of urea electrolysis since pure nickel catalysts lead to a high overpotential of urea electro-oxidation and an unstable oxidation current originating from the quick catalyst degradation. To overcome the hurdles, nickel-based multi-metallic catalysts and nanostructured nickel-based catalysts have been investigated in their application to urea electro-oxidation. It is expected to use the advantages of conjugated multi-metal materials and/or nanostructure materials to improve the kinetics of urea electro-oxidation and promote the urea electrolysis. In this project, various nickel-based catalysts (nickel-cobalt bimetallic film, nickel-zinc-cobalt trimetallic film, nickel nanowires, nickel-cobalt bimetallic nanowires) were synthesized and studied. Compared to pure nickel catalysts (control catalysts), it can be concluded that (1) nickel-cobalt bimetallic film catalysts decrease the overpotential of urea electro-oxidation with a loss of anodic current; (2) nickel-zinc-cobalt trimetallic catalysts decrease the overpotential and maintain the anodic current during urea electro-oxidation; (3) pure nickel nanowires greatly enhance the anodic current due to the significant increase of catalytic surface area; and (4) nickel-cobalt bimetallic nanowires catalysts not only decrease the overpotential, but also increase the anodic current during urea electro-oxidation. Consequently, nickel-based catalysts show potential for applications of urea electro-oxidation, including urea removal/decomposition, hydrogen production, sensors and fuel cells.
Gerardine Botte (Advisor)
Howard Dewald (Committee Member)
David Ingram (Committee Member)
Kevin Crist (Committee Member)
Douglas Goetz (Committee Member)
131 p.
Chemical Engineering
wastewater remediation; urea electrolysis; hydrogen production; Ni-based electrocatalysts; overpotential; current density;

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Yan, W. (2014). Nickel-based Catalysts for Urea Electro-oxidation [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1391419479

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Yan, Wei. Nickel-based Catalysts for Urea Electro-oxidation . 2014. Ohio University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1391419479.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Yan, Wei. "Nickel-based Catalysts for Urea Electro-oxidation ." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1391419479

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.