Boosting urea-assisted water splitting by constructing flower-like Co5.47N@Mo2N heterostructure

Synthesizing a non-noble metal based, cost-effective electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and urea oxidation reaction (UOR) is vital for urea-assisted water splitting to generate green hydrogen. In this work, a novel Co 5.47 N@Mo 2 N heterogeneous interface electrocatalyst is constructed via a facile hydrothermal method followed by a nitridation process. Co 5.47 N@Mo 2 N induces self-driven charge transfer at the interface, facilitates the electron transfer during the catalytic reaction. The prepared Co 5.47 N@Mo 2 N exhibits excellent HER (15 mV at 10 mA cm −2 ) and UOR (1.332 V at 10 mA cm −2 ) performance in alkaline electrolyte. Moreover, the urea-assisted water electrolysis driven by Co 5.47 N@Mo 2 N only requires a low cell voltage of 1.35 V to achieve 10 mA cm −2 , which is much lower than that required in water electrolysis (1.536 V). Overall, this work demonstrates a general strategy for engineering efficient and durable electrocatalysts for green hydrogen production through interfacial electronic modulation.