Evaluation of Stainless Steel as an Electrocatalyst for Electrooxidation of Urea - Rich Wastewater

In this study, commercially available bare stainless steel 304 was investigated as a working electrode in urea electrooxidation in alkaline solution using different electrochemical techniques like cyclic voltammetry (CV) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV). The electrode stability was also investigated by the constant potential electrolysis test. Different concentrations of KOH (0.5-4 M) were employed to study the electrooxidation of urea solution with concentration of 0.33 M. An anodic peak current density of 34.82mA/cm2 was obtained at 473 mV versus Ag/AgCl reference electrode in urea solution at KOH concentration of 4 M. Stainless steel properties such as corrosion resistance, low cost in addition to its catalytic activity make it an ideal anodic electrocatalyst for electrooxidation of urea-rich wastewater.