CuWO4 as a cost-effective electrocatalyst for urea oxidation reaction

The urea oxidation reaction (UOR) plays a critical role in hydrogen (H2) production and in purifying urea-rich wastewater. However, the widespread application of UOR is restricted by the scarcity of low-cost and efficient electrocatalysts. In this study, inexpensive copper tungstate (CuWO4) catalysts were successfully synthesized using a simple hydrothermal synthesis method in the presence of cetrimonium bromide (CTAB) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) surfactants; the synthesized electrocatalysts were denoted as CW-2 and CW-3, respectively. CW-2 and CW-3 were analyzed via XRD, XPS, FTIR, SEM, and TEM. The CW-3 electrocatalyst shows the lower (430 mV) overpotential, compared with CW-2 electrocatalyst (486 mV) in OER analysis.