Fe/Cu diatomic catalysts for electrochemical nitrate reduction to ammonia

2023/06/19 by Shuo Zhang, Jianghua Wu, Mengting Zheng +15 · 7 citations
Chemical Engineering · Computer Science · Energy · #Advanced Photocatalysis Techniques #Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction #Caching and Content Delivery

paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s41467-023-39366-9

openalex publication_date 2023/06/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04

Abstract

Abstract Electrochemical conversion of nitrate to ammonia offers an efficient approach to reducing nitrate pollutants and a potential technology for low-temperature and low-pressure ammonia synthesis. However, the process is limited by multiple competing reactions and NO 3 − adsorption on cathode surfaces. Here, we report a Fe/Cu diatomic catalyst on holey nitrogen-doped graphene which exhibits high catalytic activities and selectivity for ammonia production. The catalyst enables a maximum ammonia Faradaic efficiency of 92.51% (−0.3 V(RHE)) and a high NH 3 yield rate of 1.08 mmol h −1 mg −1 (at − 0.5 V(RHE)). Computational and theoretical analysis reveals that a relatively strong interaction between NO 3 − and Fe/Cu promotes the adsorption and discharge of NO 3 − anions. Nitrogen-oxygen bonds are also shown to be weakened due to the existence of hetero-atomic dual sites which lowers the overall reaction barriers. The dual-site and hetero-atom strategy in this work provides a flexible design for further catalyst development and expands the electrocatalytic techniques for nitrate reduction and ammonia synthesis.

Citations

• Atomic-level tuning of Co–N–C catalyst for high-performance electrochemical H2O2 production
• Unveiling the Activity Origin of a Copper‐based Electrocatalyst for Selective Nitrate Reduction to Ammonia
• Electrolyte Engineering for Efficient Electrochemical Nitrate Reduction to Ammonia on a Titanium Electrode
• Boosting Selective Nitrate Electroreduction to Ammonium by Constructing Oxygen Vacancies in TiO2
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• Efficient Ammonia Electrosynthesis from Nitrate on Strained Ruthenium Nanoclusters
• Electroreduction of Nitrates, Nitrites, and Gaseous Nitrogen Oxides: A Potential Source of Ammonia in Dinitrogen Reduction Studies
• Engineering unsymmetrically coordinated Cu-S1N3 single atom sites with enhanced oxygen reduction activity
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• In Situ Fragmented Bismuth Nanoparticles for Electrocatalytic Nitrogen Reduction
• Promoting selective electroreduction of nitrates to ammonia over electron-deficient Co modulated by rectifying Schottky contacts
• Theoretical Insights into the Mechanism of Selective Nitrate‐to‐Ammonia Electroreduction on Single‐Atom Catalysts
• Electrocatalytic Nitrate Reduction for Sustainable Ammonia Production
• A single-site iron catalyst with preoccupied active centers that achieves selective ammonia electrosynthesis from nitrate
• Electrocatalytic nitrate/nitrite reduction to ammonia synthesis using metal nanocatalysts and bio-inspired metalloenzymes
• Electrochemical ammonia synthesis via nitrate reduction on Fe single atom catalyst
• Nitrate reduction to ammonium: from CuO defect engineering to waste NO x -to-NH 3 economic feasibility
• First-principles design of a single-atom–alloy propane dehydrogenation catalyst
• Theoretical Insights into Superior Nitrate Reduction to Ammonia Performance of Copper Catalysts
• Electrocatalytic Reduction of Nitrate to Ammonia on Low-Cost Ultrathin CoOx Nanosheets
• Elucidating the activity, mechanism and application of selective electrosynthesis of ammonia from nitrate on cobalt phosphide
• Splicing the active phases of copper/cobalt-based catalysts achieves high-rate tandem electroreduction of nitrate to ammonia
• Efficient conversion of low-concentration nitrate sources into ammonia on a Ru-dispersed Cu nanowire electrocatalyst

Cited by

• Designing Efficient Nitrate Reduction Electrocatalysts by Identifying and Optimizing Active Sites of Co-Based Spinels
• Electronic Delocalization of Fe Atom–Cluster for Long-Term Stable Electromagnetic Wave Absorption in Marine Environments
• Efficient electrocatalytic reduction of CO 2 to CO over Ni/Y diatomic catalysts
• Atomic-scale manufacturing for chemical sensing
• Mechanical and Covalent Tailoring of Copper Catenanes for Selective Aqueous Nitrate-to-Ammonia Electrocatalysis
• Nitrate-to-Ammonia Electroconversion at Neutral pH on Polycrystalline Vanadium Sulfide Derived from Vanadium Disulfide
• Geometric and electronic perspectives on dual-atom catalysts for advanced oxidation processes

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