Wastewater containing urea can be treated by electrochemical techniques for conversion to value-added products (hydrogen). In this work, the reaction of electro-oxidation of urea was studied at the interface of mono-, bi- and tri-metallic catalysts based on Pt, Pd and Ni synthesized from organometallic precursors. Results during anodic polarization show that catalytic activity is in the order PtPdNi>PtPd>Pt. Coupling with in-situ mass spectrometry (DEMS) indicates that species such as NH3(m/z = 17), CO2 -o N2O- (m/z = 44) and NO (m/z = 30) were generated during anodic polarization using cyclic voltammetry. Electron Transmission Microscopy analysis of synthesized materials shows semi-spherical particles with good dispersion on vulcan carbon with sizes of 3.2, 2.5 and 2.2 nm for Ni, PtNi and PtPdNi, respectively. X-ray diffraction confirms the presence of FCC crystalline structures of Pt, Pd and Ni and reveals the formation of solid solutions PtNi and PtPdNi. In addition, spectra of X-ray-emitted photoelectrons obtained for the Pt4f orbital showed a shift towards a lower binding energy in the alloy formation due to the addition of nickel and palladium evidencing a solid solution. Analysis of results shows that urea can be used as a source of protons or hydrogen in the counter electrode. By-products can be treated electrochemically to control environmental pollution or generate compounds of commercial interest.

https://zoom.us/j/98292820375?pwd=dmlkemRDc29RRDVrNGwvczR1SG1PUT09