Efficient Hydrogen Generation and Total Nitrogen Removal for Urine Treatment in a Neutral Solution Based on a Self-Driving Nano Photoelectrocatalytic System
Urine is the main source of nitrogen pollution, while urea is a hydrogen-enriched carrier that has been ignored. Decomposition of urea to H<sub>2</sub> and N<sub>2</sub> is of great significance. Unfortunately, direct urea oxidation suffers from sluggish kinetics, and needs s...
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2021
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oai:doaj.org-article:1c396a4f49a640f483c90bb1432974f62021-11-25T18:29:46ZEfficient Hydrogen Generation and Total Nitrogen Removal for Urine Treatment in a Neutral Solution Based on a Self-Driving Nano Photoelectrocatalytic System10.3390/nano111127772079-4991https://doaj.org/article/1c396a4f49a640f483c90bb1432974f62021-10-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/11/11/2777https://doaj.org/toc/2079-4991Urine is the main source of nitrogen pollution, while urea is a hydrogen-enriched carrier that has been ignored. Decomposition of urea to H<sub>2</sub> and N<sub>2</sub> is of great significance. Unfortunately, direct urea oxidation suffers from sluggish kinetics, and needs strong alkaline condition. Herein, we developed a self-driving nano photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) system to efficiently produce hydrogen and remove total nitrogen (TN) for urine treatment under neutral pH conditions. TiO<sub>2</sub>/WO<sub>3</sub> nanosheets were used as photoanode to generate chlorine radicals (Cl•) to convert urea-nitrogen to N<sub>2</sub>, which can promote hydrogen generation, due to the kinetic advantage of Cl<sup>−</sup>/Cl• cyclic catalysis. Copper nanowire electrodes (Cu NWs/CF) were employed as the cathode to produce hydrogen and simultaneously eliminate the over-oxidized nitrate-nitrogen. The self-driving was achieved based on a self-bias photoanode, consisting of confronted TiO<sub>2</sub>/WO<sub>3</sub> nanosheets and a rear Si photovoltaic cell (Si PVC). The experiment results showed that hydrogen generation with Cl• is 2.03 times higher than in urine treatment without Cl•, generating hydrogen at 66.71 μmol h<sup>−1</sup>. At the same time, this system achieved a decomposition rate of 98.33% for urea in 2 h, with a reaction rate constant of 0.0359 min<sup>−1</sup>. The removal rate of total nitrogen and total organic carbon (TOC) reached 75.3% and 48.4% in 2 h, respectively. This study proposes an efficient and potential urine treatment and energy recovery method in neutral solution.Pengbo WangJinhua LiYang XuChanghui ZhouYan ZhangLina ZhaBo ZhangJing BaiBaoxue ZhouMDPI AGarticlenano photoelectrocatalysisurinehydrogen generationself-drivingcyclic catalysis of Cl<sup>−</sup>/Cl•total nitrogen removalChemistryQD1-999ENNanomaterials, Vol 11, Iss 2777, p 2777 (2021) |
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DOAJ |
| collection |
DOAJ |
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EN |
| topic |
nano photoelectrocatalysis urine hydrogen generation self-driving cyclic catalysis of Cl<sup>−</sup>/Cl• total nitrogen removal Chemistry QD1-999 |
| spellingShingle |
nano photoelectrocatalysis urine hydrogen generation self-driving cyclic catalysis of Cl<sup>−</sup>/Cl• total nitrogen removal Chemistry QD1-999 Pengbo Wang Jinhua Li Yang Xu Changhui Zhou Yan Zhang Lina Zha Bo Zhang Jing Bai Baoxue Zhou Efficient Hydrogen Generation and Total Nitrogen Removal for Urine Treatment in a Neutral Solution Based on a Self-Driving Nano Photoelectrocatalytic System |
| description |
Urine is the main source of nitrogen pollution, while urea is a hydrogen-enriched carrier that has been ignored. Decomposition of urea to H<sub>2</sub> and N<sub>2</sub> is of great significance. Unfortunately, direct urea oxidation suffers from sluggish kinetics, and needs strong alkaline condition. Herein, we developed a self-driving nano photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) system to efficiently produce hydrogen and remove total nitrogen (TN) for urine treatment under neutral pH conditions. TiO<sub>2</sub>/WO<sub>3</sub> nanosheets were used as photoanode to generate chlorine radicals (Cl•) to convert urea-nitrogen to N<sub>2</sub>, which can promote hydrogen generation, due to the kinetic advantage of Cl<sup>−</sup>/Cl• cyclic catalysis. Copper nanowire electrodes (Cu NWs/CF) were employed as the cathode to produce hydrogen and simultaneously eliminate the over-oxidized nitrate-nitrogen. The self-driving was achieved based on a self-bias photoanode, consisting of confronted TiO<sub>2</sub>/WO<sub>3</sub> nanosheets and a rear Si photovoltaic cell (Si PVC). The experiment results showed that hydrogen generation with Cl• is 2.03 times higher than in urine treatment without Cl•, generating hydrogen at 66.71 μmol h<sup>−1</sup>. At the same time, this system achieved a decomposition rate of 98.33% for urea in 2 h, with a reaction rate constant of 0.0359 min<sup>−1</sup>. The removal rate of total nitrogen and total organic carbon (TOC) reached 75.3% and 48.4% in 2 h, respectively. This study proposes an efficient and potential urine treatment and energy recovery method in neutral solution. |
| format |
article |
| author |
Pengbo Wang Jinhua Li Yang Xu Changhui Zhou Yan Zhang Lina Zha Bo Zhang Jing Bai Baoxue Zhou |
| author_facet |
Pengbo Wang Jinhua Li Yang Xu Changhui Zhou Yan Zhang Lina Zha Bo Zhang Jing Bai Baoxue Zhou |
| author_sort |
Pengbo Wang |
| title |
Efficient Hydrogen Generation and Total Nitrogen Removal for Urine Treatment in a Neutral Solution Based on a Self-Driving Nano Photoelectrocatalytic System |
| title_short |
Efficient Hydrogen Generation and Total Nitrogen Removal for Urine Treatment in a Neutral Solution Based on a Self-Driving Nano Photoelectrocatalytic System |
| title_full |
Efficient Hydrogen Generation and Total Nitrogen Removal for Urine Treatment in a Neutral Solution Based on a Self-Driving Nano Photoelectrocatalytic System |
| title_fullStr |
Efficient Hydrogen Generation and Total Nitrogen Removal for Urine Treatment in a Neutral Solution Based on a Self-Driving Nano Photoelectrocatalytic System |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Efficient Hydrogen Generation and Total Nitrogen Removal for Urine Treatment in a Neutral Solution Based on a Self-Driving Nano Photoelectrocatalytic System |
| title_sort |
efficient hydrogen generation and total nitrogen removal for urine treatment in a neutral solution based on a self-driving nano photoelectrocatalytic system |
| publisher |
MDPI AG |
| publishDate |
2021 |
| url |
https://doaj.org/article/1c396a4f49a640f483c90bb1432974f6 |
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