Executive Summary : | The need of the hour towards alternative non-conventional energy conversion systems to serve the world has brought numerous researchers to invest their knowledge and resources towards achieving the goal. Amongst all such alternatives, fuel cells (FCs) stand unique and green. Among various types of fuel cell direct urea fuel cell (DUFCs) is one of the less explored and studied so far. However, it is one such FC which serves the purpose of both energy supply and wastewater treatment as it comprises two kinds of reaction, urea oxidation reaction (UOR) at the anode and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at the cathode. Urea is abundantly available in the form of urine from animals and humans can serve DUFCs as the source of fuel. Also, this kind of FCs can be used as an alternative to H2-based fuel cells as their theoretical open circuit voltage is of 1.15 V which is similar to that of H2 FC, non-flammable, easy for transportation, abundant, and also urea requires lesser theoretical cell voltage (0.37 V vs. RHE) for splitting when compared to water (which requires 1.23 V vs. RHE). In spite of all these benefits, commercializing such systems has not been yet possible due to the sluggish kinetics of the reactions involved in the FC. To assist these reactions we need to design and fabricate non-precious electrocatalysts (ECs) which not only make the working kinetics of the system faster and more efficient but also at the same are cost-effective and show good durability in order to get commercialized. In this project, we propose to formulate the working of CoNi-based sulfides/selenides and their composites as non-precious bifunctional ECs in an alkaline medium and to decipher the understanding of the reaction mechanism of the electrode reactions. |