Page 21 - Book of Abstracts 2020

8 Biannual Conference on Chemistry - CHEM 08
th

Enhanced Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Urea at Ternary
NiOx/CuOx/Polyaniline Nanocomposite-based GC Anodes

1
Mona A. Goda *, Muhammad G. Abd El-Moghny , Mohamed S. El-
1,2,
1
Deab
1 Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Cairo,
Egypt, Modern Academy For Engineering and Technology, Maadi,
2
Egypt .

ABSTRACT

Urea is an essential metabolite; it is recently shown as a promising fuel in view
of its virtues, e.g., low cost, solid state nature at room temperature, high chemical
stability and water solubility, easy handling, and non-flammability [1-3]. Herein,
Polyaniline (PANI) modified glassy carbon (GC) electrode with sequentially
electrodeposited copper oxides (CuOx) and nickel oxides nanoparticles (NiOx
NPs) are suggested as efficient and stable electrocatalysts towards urea oxidation
reaction (UOR). The electrocatalytic activity of the various prepared catalysts
toward UOR is evaluated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), linear sweep voltammetry
(LSV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and chronoamperometry
(CA). Furthermore, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-
ray spectroscopy (EDX), mapping EDX and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques
are used to characterize the electrocatalysts. The electrocatalytic activity of the
prepared anodes towards UOR depends on the catalyst’s composition, loading
sequence and loading level besides the electrolyte’s pH and temperature.
Moreover, the amended PANI with a combination of the two metal oxides (i.e.,
CuOx and NiOx, where NiOx is the top layer) showed the best electrocatalytic
activity for UOR compared to the GC electrode without PANI. It supports a
larger (ca. four-fold) oxidation current for UOR together with a negative shift of
the onset potential by ca. 40 mV. The addressed electrode
(NiOx/CuOx/PANI/GC) has a high sensitivity, good selectivity and stability, fast
response, and low cost [4].
Keywords: Electrocatalysis; Nanomaterials; Biosensors; Conducting polymers; Metal
oxides.
References:
(1) Yan, W.; Wang, D.; Diaz, L. A.; Botte, G. G. Nickel Nanowires as Effective Catalysts
for Urea Electro-Oxidation. Electrochim. Acta 2014, 134, 266–271.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2014.03.134.
(2) Yan, W.; Wang, D.; Botte, G. G. Electrochemical Decomposition of Urea with Ni-
Based Catalysts. Appl. Catal. B Environ. 2012, 127, 221–226.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2012.08.022.
(3) Wang, L.; Du, T.; Cheng, J.; Xie, X.; Yang, B.; Li, M. Enhanced Activity of Urea
Electrooxidation on Nickel Catalysts Supported on Tungsten Carbides/Carbon Nanotubes.
J. Power Sources 2015, 280, 550–554. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2015.01.141.

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