Electron Spin Polarization Facilitates the Urea Oxidation Reaction

Abstract This work reports on the role of electron spin in the urea oxidation reaction (UOR), which is important for wastewater treatment and for hydrogen production in energy applications, as it possesses a lower thermodynamic equilibrium potential to produce hydrogen than does direct water splitting. We demonstrate that spin‐polarized catalysts facilitate the UOR, leading to a decrease in reaction overpotential and an improved product distribution compared to analogous unpolarized catalysts. Computational studies attribute the improved performance to a stabilization of the desired reaction pathway upon spin polarization. This work underscores the importance of electron spin considerations for multistep, multielectron and multiproton, electrochemical reactions.