Synergistic catalysis of TiO2/WO3 photoanode and Sb–SnO2 electrode with highly efficient ClO• generation for urine treatment

Urine is the major source of nitrogen pollutants in domestic sewage and is a neglected source of H2. Although ClO• is used to overcome the poor selectivity and slow kinetics of urea decomposition, the generation of ClO• suffers from the inefficient formation reaction of HO• and reactive chlorine species (RCS). In this study, a synergistic catalytic method based on TiO2/WO3 photoanode and Sb–SnO2 electrode efficiently producing ClO• is proposed for urine treatment. The critical design is that TiO2/WO3 photoanode and Sb–SnO2 electrode that generate HO• and RCS, respectively, are assembled in a confined space through face-to-face (TiO2/WO3//Sb–SnO2), which effectively strengthens the direct reaction of HO• and RCS. Furthermore, a Si solar panel as rear photovoltaic cell (Si PVC) is placed behind TiO2/WO3//Sb–SnO2 to fully use sunlight and provide the driving force of charge separation. The composite photoanode (TiO2/WO3//Sb–SnO2@Si PVC) has a ClO• generation rate of 260% compared with the back-to-bake assembly way. In addition, the electrons transfer to the NiFe LDH@Cu NWs/CF cathode for rapid H2 production by the constructed photoelectric catalytic (PEC) cell without applied external biasing potential, in which the H2 production yield reaches 84.55 μmol h−1 with 25% improvement of the urine denitrification rate. The superior performance and long-term stability of PEC cell provide an effective and promising method for denitrification and H2 generation.