Advances and Challenges in the Doping Engineering of Nickel‐Based Catalysts in the Urea Oxidation Reaction

ABSTRACT The urea oxidation reaction (UOR) has shown significant application prospects in the field of urea‐assisted hydrogen production in dealing with the nitrogen‐containing wastewater. Nickel‐based catalysts are the core system for catalyzing UOR, and doping engineering is widely used to enhance catalytic performance. In this context, we reviewed doping engineering to enhance nickel‐based catalysts for UOR beyond the traditional classification based on element types. We first systematically elucidate the synergistic roles of doping‐induced electronic‐structure modulation, adsorption‐energy optimization of key reaction intermediates, and regulation of lattice strain and defects along the UOR reaction pathway. The in situ doping and post‐treatment doping strategies are integrated within the same analytical framework, enabling comparative discussions of their fundamental differences in dopant spatial distribution and active‐site construction. From the perspective of dopant selection, the regulatory characteristics of nickel‐based active centers and reaction interfaces are comprehensively reviewed across three dimensions of metal doping, non‐metal doping, and synergistic co‐doping. Finally, the problems and challenges for the catalysis mechanism understanding, the catalysts development, and the research trend are discussed. This review offers the advances in doping engineering of Nickel‐based catalysts that would be helpful for catalyst development and novel catalyst design.