Impact of a Novel Nickel-Based Catalyst and Phenyl-Acrylate-Based Anion-Exchange Membrane in a Direct Urea Fuel Cell

Yoon, Jaesik; Kim, Jung Min; Lin, Yi-hung; Geise, Geoffrey M.; Beckingham, Bryan S.; Kim, Dong-Joo

doi:10.1021/acs.energyfuels.4c00929

Impact of a Novel Nickel-Based Catalyst and Phenyl-Acrylate-Based Anion-Exchange Membrane in a Direct Urea Fuel Cell

Journal Article · Tue Jun 25 00:00:00 EDT 2024 · Energy and Fuels

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.4c00929· OSTI ID:2377995

Yoon, Jaesik ^[1]; Kim, Jung Min ^[2]; ^[3]; ^[4]; ^[3]; ^[3]

Auburn University, AL (United States); Auburn University
Auburn University, AL (United States); University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (United States)
Auburn University, AL (United States)
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (United States)

Developing target-specific catalysts and anion-exchange membranes (AEMs) is crucial for direct urea fuel cell (DUFC) performance. To advance the DUFC system, we developed an anode catalyst with a nickel–iron oxyhydroxide/carbon (NiFeOOH/C) nanofibrous structure for the urea oxidation reaction (UOR), where we optimized the Ni/Fe molar ratio as 6:4. The enhanced electrocatalytic activity of the anode (Ni₆Fe₄OOH/C) is attributed to the hydroxide group, which responds with urea molecules to enhance the UOR in a pH-neutral system. Here, we employed a recently developed cross-linked phenyl-acrylate-based AEM (PA/M). A DUFC prepared with the anode and PA/M generates a maximum power density of 11.1 mW/cm² and 0.92 V open-circuit voltage under 3 M urea as fuel at 25 °C. We further analyzed the applicability of PA/M in a DUFC system by measuring the urea partition coefficients and permeabilities over a range of concentrations.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Auburn University, AL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0021215

OSTI ID:: 2377995

Journal Information:: Energy and Fuels, Journal Name: Energy and Fuels Journal Issue: 13 Vol. 38; ISSN 0887-0624

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (58)

Amorphous Metallic NiFeP: A Conductive Bulk Material Achieving High Activity for Oxygen Evolution Reaction in Both Alkaline and Acidic Media Hu, Fei; Zhu, Shengli; Chen, Shuangming Advanced Materials, Vol. 29, Issue 32 https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201606570	journal	June 2017
Metal–Organic Framework Templated Porous Carbon‐Metal Oxide/Reduced Graphene Oxide as Superior Support of Bimetallic Nanoparticles for Efficient Hydrogen Generation from Formic Acid Song, Fu‐Zhan; Zhu, Qi‐Long; Yang, Xinchun Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 8, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201701416	journal	September 2017
3D Hierarchical Core-Shell Nanostructured Arrays on Carbon Fibers as Catalysts for Direct Urea Fuel Cells Senthilkumar, N.; Gnana kumar, G.; Manthiram, A. Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 8, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201702207	journal	October 2017
Direct Urea Fuel Cells: Recent Progress and Critical Challenges of Urea Oxidation Electrocatalysis Gnana kumar, Georgepeter; Farithkhan, Ameer; Manthiram, Arumugam Advanced Energy and Sustainability Research, Vol. 1, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1002/aesr.202000015	journal	October 2020
One‐Step In Situ Growth of Iron–Nickel Sulfide Nanosheets on FeNi Alloy Foils: High‐Performance and Self‐Supported Electrodes for Water Oxidation Yuan, Cheng‐Zong; Sun, Zhong‐Ti; Jiang, Yi‐Fan Small, Vol. 13, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.201604161	journal	March 2017
Recent Advances in the Electro-Oxidation of Urea for Direct Urea Fuel Cell and Urea Electrolysis Ye, Ke; Wang, Gang; Cao, Dianxue Topics in Current Chemistry, Vol. 376, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1007/s41061-018-0219-y	journal	October 2018
The solution-diffusion model: a review Wijmans, J. G.; Baker, R. W. Journal of Membrane Science, Vol. 107, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/0376-7388(95)00102-I	journal	November 1995
Numerical solution of the Nernst-Planck and poisson equation system with applications to membrane electrochemistry and solid state physics Brumleve, Timothy R.; Buck, Richard P. Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry and Interfacial Electrochemistry, Vol. 90, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-0728(78)80137-5	journal	June 1978
Rh-engineered ultrathin NiFe-LDH nanosheets enable highly-efficient overall water splitting and urea electrolysis Sun, Huachuan; Zhang, Wei; Li, Jian-Gang Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, Vol. 284 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2020.119740	journal	May 2021
Direct evidence of the mechanism for the electro-oxidation of urea on Ni(OH)2 catalyst in alkaline medium Vedharathinam, Vedasri; Botte, Gerardine G. Electrochimica Acta, Vol. 108 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2013.06.137	journal	October 2013
The electrocatalytic oxidation of urea on nickel-graphene and nickel-graphene oxide composite electrodes Urbańczyk, Ewelina; Maciej, Artur; Stolarczyk, Agnieszka Electrochimica Acta, Vol. 305 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2019.03.045	journal	May 2019
Multicomponent transport of methanol and sodium acetate in poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate membranes of varied fractional free volume Dobyns, Breanna M.; Kim, Jung Min; Beckingham, Bryan S. European Polymer Journal, Vol. 134 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2020.109809	journal	July 2020
Reduced graphene oxide supported nickel tungstate nano-composite electrocatalyst for anodic urea oxidation reaction in direct urea fuel cell Wang, Ya; Liu, Gang International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Vol. 45, Issue 58 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.09.095	journal	November 2020
Preparation of nano-sized nickel as anode catalyst for direct urea and urine fuel cells Lan, Rong; Tao, Shanwen Journal of Power Sources, Vol. 196, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2011.02.015	journal	June 2011
Ni–WC/C nanocluster catalysts for urea electrooxidation Wang, Lu; Li, Mingtao; Huang, Zhiyu Journal of Power Sources, Vol. 264 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2014.04.104	journal	October 2014
A review of nanofibrous structures in lithium ion batteries Pampal, Esra Serife; Stojanovska, Elena; Simon, Bálint Journal of Power Sources, Vol. 300 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2015.09.059	journal	December 2015
A direct urea microfluidic fuel cell with flow-through Ni-supported-carbon- nanotube-coated sponge as porous electrode Zhang, Huimin; Wang, Yifei; Wu, Zucheng Journal of Power Sources, Vol. 363 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2017.07.055	journal	September 2017
Direct urea fuel cells: Challenges and opportunities Sayed, Enas Taha; Eisa, Tasnim; Mohamed, Hend Omar Journal of Power Sources, Vol. 417 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2018.12.024	journal	March 2019
Solid solution palladium-nickel bimetallic anode catalysts by co-sputtering for direct urea fuel cells (DUFC) Yoon, Jaesik; Lee, Doohee; Lee, Yu Na Journal of Power Sources, Vol. 431 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2019.05.059	journal	August 2019
Sodium chloride sorption in sulfonated polymers for membrane applications Geise, Geoffrey M.; Falcon, Linda P.; Freeman, Benny D. Journal of Membrane Science, Vol. 423-424 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2012.08.014	journal	December 2012
Sodium chloride diffusion in sulfonated polymers for membrane applications Geise, Geoffrey M.; Freeman, Benny D.; Paul, Donald R. Journal of Membrane Science, Vol. 427 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2012.09.029	journal	January 2013
Monitoring multicomponent transport using in situ ATR FTIR spectroscopy Beckingham, Bryan S.; Lynd, Nathaniel A.; Miller, Daniel J. Journal of Membrane Science, Vol. 550 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2017.12.072	journal	March 2018
Host-guest interaction induced ion channels for accelerated OH− transport in anion exchange membranes Wei, Chengpeng; Yu, Weisheng; Liang, Xian Journal of Membrane Science, Vol. 655 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2022.120580	journal	August 2022
Tin quantum dots embedded in nitrogen-doped carbon nanofibers as excellent anode for lithium-ion batteries Zhang, Guanhua; Zhu, Jian; Zeng, Wei Nano Energy, Vol. 9 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2014.06.030	journal	October 2014
Liquid methanol sorption, diffusion and permeation in charged and uncharged polymers Galizia, Michele; Paul, Donald R.; Freeman, Benny D. Polymer, Vol. 102 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2016.09.010	journal	October 2016
Multicomponent transport of alcohols in an anion exchange membrane measured by in-situ ATR FTIR spectroscopy Carter, Blaine M.; Dobyns, Breanna M.; Beckingham, Bryan S. Polymer, Vol. 123 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2017.06.070	journal	August 2017
Influence of water content on alkali metal chloride transport in cross-linked Poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate.2. Ion diffusion Jang, Eui-Soung; Kamcev, Jovan; Kobayashi, Kentaro Polymer, Vol. 192 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2020.122316	journal	March 2020
Energy supply, its demand and security issues for developed and emerging economies Asif, M.; Muneer, T. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 11, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2005.12.004	journal	September 2007
Fabrication and Characterization of Cross-Linked Phenyl-Acrylate-Based Ion Exchange Membranes and Performance in a Direct Urea Fuel Cell Kim, Jung Min; Wang, Yuyang; Lin, Yi-hung Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol. 60, Issue 41 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.1c02798	journal	October 2021
Transport of Neutral and Charged Solutes in Imidazolium-Functionalized Poly(phenylene oxide) Membranes for Artificial Photosynthesis Dischinger, Sarah M.; Gupta, Shubham; Carter, Blaine M. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol. 59, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.9b05628	journal	December 2019
Impacts of Organic Sorbates on the Ionic Conductivity and Nanostructure of Perfluorinated Sulfonic-Acid Ionomers Katzenberg, Adlai; Angulo, Andrea; Kusoglu, Ahmet Macromolecules, Vol. 54, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.1c00494	journal	May 2021
Insights into the Ni/C-Based Thin-Film Catalyst Layer Design for Urea Oxidation Reaction in a Three-Electrode System Kakati, Nitul; Li, Guangfu; Chuang, Po-Ya Abel ACS Applied Energy Materials, Vol. 4, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaem.1c00607	journal	March 2021
Metal–Organic Polymer-Derived Interconnected Fe–Ni Alloy by Carbon Nanotubes as an Advanced Design of Urea Oxidation Catalysts Modak, Arindam; Mohan, Roopathy; Rajavelu, Kalaiyarasi ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 13, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c22148	journal	February 2021
Predicting Salt Permeability Coefficients in Highly Swollen, Highly Charged Ion Exchange Membranes Kamcev, Jovan; Paul, Donald R.; Manning, Gerald S. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 9, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6b14902	journal	January 2017
Rational Design of Ion Exchange Membrane Material Properties Limits the Crossover of CO ₂ Reduction Products in Artificial Photosynthesis Devices Krödel, Maximilian; Carter, Blaine M.; Rall, Deniz ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 12, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.9b21415	journal	February 2020
Silver-Nanoparticle-Decorated NiOOH Nanorods for Electrocatalytic Urea Sensing Yoon, Jaesik; Yoon, Young Soo; Kim, Dong-Joo ACS Applied Nano Materials, Vol. 3, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.0c01279	journal	August 2020
Phenyl Acrylate-Based Cross-Linked Anion Exchange Membranes for Non-aqueous Redox Flow Batteries Mazumder, Md. Motiur R.; Jadhav, Rohit G.; Minteer, Shelley D. ACS Materials Au, Vol. 3, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsmaterialsau.3c00044	journal	July 2023
Ionic Resistance and Permselectivity Tradeoffs in Anion Exchange Membranes Geise, Geoffrey M.; Hickner, Michael A.; Logan, Bruce E. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 5, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1021/am403207w	journal	October 2013
Nickel–Iron Oxyhydroxide Oxygen-Evolution Electrocatalysts: The Role of Intentional and Incidental Iron Incorporation Trotochaud, Lena; Young, Samantha L.; Ranney, James K. Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 136, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1021/ja502379c	journal	April 2014
Investigating the Hydrogen-Bonding Model of Urea Denaturation Sagle, Laura B.; Zhang, Yanjie; Litosh, Vladislav A. Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 131, Issue 26 https://doi.org/10.1021/ja9016057	journal	July 2009
Diffusion and Sorption of Methanol and Water in Nafion Using Time-Resolved Fourier Transform Infrared−Attenuated Total Reflectance Spectroscopy Hallinan, Daniel T.; Elabd, Yossef A. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Vol. 111, Issue 46 https://doi.org/10.1021/jp075178n	journal	November 2007
Solvation of Electrolytes and Nonelectrolytes in Aqueous Solutions Afanas’ev, V. N. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Vol. 115, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1021/jp1108834	journal	May 2011
Ammonium Bicarbonate Transport in Anion Exchange Membranes for Salinity Gradient Energy Geise, Geoffrey M.; Hickner, Michael A.; Logan, Bruce E. ACS Macro Letters, Vol. 2, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1021/mz4003408	journal	August 2013
Heterogeneous photocatalyst materials for water splitting Kudo, Akihiko; Miseki, Yugo Chem. Soc. Rev., Vol. 38, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1039/B800489G	journal	January 2009
On the urea induced hydrophobic collapse of a water soluble polymer Rodríguez-Ropero, Francisco; van der Vegt, Nico F. A. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, Vol. 17, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.1039/C4CP05314A	journal	January 2015
Effect of fixed charge group concentration on equilibrium ion sorption in ion exchange membranes Kamcev, Jovan; Paul, Donald R.; Freeman, Benny D. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Vol. 5, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1039/C6TA07954G	journal	January 2017
Fabrication of nickel oxyhydroxide/palladium (NiOOH/Pd) thin films for gasochromic application Hu, Chih-Wei; Yamada, Yasusei; Yoshimura, Kazuki Journal of Materials Chemistry C, Vol. 4, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.1039/C6TC01541G	journal	January 2016
Simultaneous reductive and sorptive removal of Cr(vi) by activated carbon supported β-FeOOH Yang, Tingting; Meng, Lirong; Han, Shuwen RSC Advances, Vol. 7, Issue 55 https://doi.org/10.1039/C7RA06440C	journal	January 2017
High performance duckweed-derived carbon support to anchor NiFe electrocatalysts for efficient solar energy driven water splitting Kumar, Ashwani; Chaudhary, Dhirendra K.; Parvin, Sahanaz Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Vol. 6, Issue 39 https://doi.org/10.1039/C8TA06946H	journal	January 2018
A facile, one-step electroless deposition of NiFeOOH nanosheets onto photoanodes for highly durable and efficient solar water oxidation Suryawanshi, Mahesh P.; Shin, Seung Wook; Ghorpade, Uma V. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Vol. 6, Issue 42 https://doi.org/10.1039/C8TA07343K	journal	January 2018
Preparation and characterization of crosslinked poly(vinylimidazolium) anion exchange membranes for artificial photosynthesis Carter, Blaine M.; Keller, Laura; Wessling, Matthias Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Vol. 7, Issue 41 https://doi.org/10.1039/C9TA00498J	journal	January 2019
Urea electrolysis: direct hydrogen production from urine Boggs, Bryan K.; King, Rebecca L.; Botte, Gerardine G. Chemical Communications, Issue 32 https://doi.org/10.1039/b905974a	journal	January 2009
A direct urea fuel cell – power from fertiliser and waste Lan, Rong; Tao, Shanwen; Irvine, John T. S. Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 3, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1039/b924786f	journal	January 2010
Water photolysis at 12.3% efficiency via perovskite photovoltaics and Earth-abundant catalysts Luo, J.; Im, J. -H.; Mayer, M. T. Science, Vol. 345, Issue 6204 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1258307	journal	September 2014
A two-phase model that unifies and extends the classical models of membrane transport Hegde, Varun H.; Doherty, Michael F.; Squires, Todd M. Science, Vol. 377, Issue 6602 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abm7192	journal	July 2022
In Situ XANES Studies of Electrodeposited Nickel Oxide Films with Metal Additives for the Electro-Oxidation of Ethanol Kim, Jae-Woo; Park, Su-Moon Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 150, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1149/1.1613671	journal	January 2003
Transport and Co-Transport of Carboxylate Ions and Ethanol in Anion Exchange Membranes Kim, Jung Min; Lin, Yi-hung; Hunter, Brock Polymers, Vol. 13, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13172885	journal	August 2021
Investigation of Fumasep® FAA3-50 Membranes in Alkaline Direct Methanol Fuel Cells Lo Vecchio, Carmelo; Carbone, Alessandra; Gatto, Irene Polymers, Vol. 15, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15061555	journal	March 2023

Similar Records

Fabrication and Characterization of Cross-Linked Phenyl-Acrylate-Based Ion Exchange Membranes and Performance in a Direct Urea Fuel Cell

Journal Article · Wed Oct 06 20:00:00 EDT 2021 · Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research · OSTI ID:1831121

Enhanced Urea Oxidation Electrocatalytic Activity by Synergistic Cobalt and Nickel Mixed Oxides

Journal Article · Thu Dec 21 19:00:00 EST 2023 · Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters · OSTI ID:2372693

Dynamics of precatalyst conversion and iron incorporation in nickel-based alkaline oxygen evolution reaction catalysts

Journal Article · Sun Nov 10 19:00:00 EST 2024 · Cell Reports Physical Science · OSTI ID:2583343

Related Subjects

10 SYNTHETIC FUELS
25 ENERGY STORAGE
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
Catalysts
Electrodes
Membranes
Nanofibers
Urea

Impact of a Novel Nickel-Based Catalyst and Phenyl-Acrylate-Based Anion-Exchange Membrane in a Direct Urea Fuel Cell

Citation Formats

References (58)

Similar Records

Related Subjects