The oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which has a slow kinetics and low economic value of the product, seriously reduces the energy conversion efficiency of the overall water electrolysis for hydrogen production and the economic benefits of its practical applications. Therefore, replacing OER with an oxidation reaction that has a lower potential and higher value can effectively reduce the cell voltage and energy consumption for hydrogen production, improve the energy conversion efficiency, and at the same time obtain high-value-added chemical products.

This paper establishes a new low-energy-consumption water electrolysis for hydrogen production coupling system based on the oxidative azo coupling reaction of 3,4-diaminofurazan. The specific method is to use a carbon cloth-supported NiS₂ catalyst(CC@NiS₂) as the cathode hydrogen evolution reaction catalyst and utilize a copper oxide nanocatalyst to drive the anode reaction, thereby constructing the entire coupling system and conducting relevant experimental tests and analyses.

This system only requires a cell voltage of 1.45 V to drive a current density of 10 mA·cm⁻², which is 330 mV lower than that of the traditional water electrolysis system (1.78 V). Among them, the carbon cloth-supported NiS₂ catalyst as the cathode hydrogen evolution reaction catalyst can stably operate for more than 20 hours with an overpotential of only 190.5 mV when driving a current density of 10 mA·cm⁻². Meanwhile, the anode can achieve the electrosynthesis of 3,3'-diamino-4,4'-azofurazan energetic materials. Driven by the copper oxide nanocatalyst, problems such as high danger, high pollution, and high cost that occur in conventional organic synthesis are avoided. This paper provides a new strategy for the safe production of energetic organic compounds and the low-energy-consumption and green preparation of high-purity hydrogen.