Urea oxidation catalysts: a review on non-metallic enhancements in nickel-based electrocatalysts
Abstract
The urea oxidation reaction (UOR) offers a promising low-energy alternative to the conventional oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in hydrogen production, leveraging urea's lower thermodynamic barrier to reduce energy demands of water splitting. This review focuses on the design and optimization of nickel-based UOR catalysts through the strategic incorporation of nonmetallic inorganic dopants to enhance their electrocatalytic performance. By modulating the electronic structure and surface active sites, these dopants aim to improve catalytic activity. Specifically, this review examines the influence of nitrogen, phosphorus, boron, sulfur, selenium, and fluorine incorporation on the catalyst's structure and performance, considering various doping methodologies and their impact on active site exposure, adsorption energies, and reaction pathways. The study also discusses the challenges in maintaining catalyst stability and the complexity of the UOR mechanism, proposing future research directions and development pathways in the field of hydrogen energy.
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Nitrogen doping enhances the UOR through the formation of M-Nx coordination sites, which modulate the electronic structure of the metal centres by increasing local electron density and facilitating charge transfer.
“Nitrogen doping enhances the UOR through the formation of M–Nx coordination sites [62,63], which modulate the electronic structure of the metal centres by increasing the local electron density and facilitating charge transfer during catalysis [64].”
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González-Lavín, J., Rey-Raap, N., Arenillas, A., Espinosa-Lagunes, F. I., Arriaga, L. G., & Ledesma-García, J. (2026) · International Journal of Hydrogen Energy · doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2026.155094 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
- Authors
- Li, Q., Wang, J., Shi, Y., Li, H., Yang, H., Xiang, K., You, W., & Liang, J.
- Affiliations
- Wuhan Institute of Technology (CN)
- Jianghan University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Xiang, Kun
- You, Wen
- Liang, Jiyuan
- Venue
- Materials Horizons
- Publisher
- Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
- Published
- 2025
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 23
- Pages
- 9952-9965
- ISSN
- 2051-6347 (ISSN-L)
- 2051-6355
- OpenAlex
- W4413743928
- Cited by
- 19
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 19
- FWCI
- 0.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Materials Horizons (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (21902108)
- Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (2025AFB671)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Catalytic Processes in Materials Science
- Keywords
- urea oxidation reaction, nickel-based electrocatalysts, nitrogen doping, phosphorus doping, boron doping, sulfur doping, selenium doping, fluorine doping, hydrogen production, water splitting, active site exposure, adsorption energy, reaction mechanism, catalyst stability, electronic structure
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