Boosting NH₃production from nitrate electroreductionviaelectronic structure engineering of Fe₃C nanoflakes

Abstract

Clear structure-performance relationships are helpful for the design of efficient catalysts and the understanding of reaction mechanisms. Electrocatalytic nitrate reduction reaction (NO3RR) offers a sustainable route to ammonia (NH3) synthesis...

A 3D FeOOH nanotube array: an efficient catalyst for ammonia electrosynthesis by nitrite reduction

“…15,16 NO 2 À plays a vital role in the nitrogen cycle and widely exists in groundwater sources. [17][18][19] However, human activities including overuse of nitrogen fertilizers and discharge of industrial effluents have caused a dramatic increase in NO 2 À concentration, seriously disrupting the nitrogen cycle. [20][21][22] The electrocatalytic NO 2 À reduction reaction (NO 2 RR) not only settles the demand for the removal of NO 2 À but offers a promising method for generating NH 3 under room temperature.…”

Greatly enhanced electrochemical nitrate-to-ammonia conversion over an Fe-doped TiO2nanoribbon array

“…19,20 Nevertheless, the NO 3 − -to-NH 3 conversion process is extremely complex, involving multiple reaction pathways and intermediates, and it needs highly efficient electrocatalysts to drive the eight-electron NO 3 − reduction reaction (NO 3 − RR). [19][20][21][22][23][24] Noble-metal-based catalysts are active for the NO 3 − RR, [25][26][27] but their prohibitive cost and resource scarcity make it difficult to apply them on a large scale. Considerable efforts have thus been devoted to exploring earth-abundant transition metal oxides (TMOs) to catalyze the NO 3 − RR.…”

“…19,20 Nevertheless, the NO 3 − -to-NH 3 conversion process is extremely complex, involving multiple reaction pathways and intermediates, and it needs highly efficient electrocatalysts to drive the eight-electron NO 3 − reduction reaction (NO 3 − RR). 19–24…”

Modulation of Co-N4 active sites in 1D-2D heterostructure as bifunctional electrocatalyst for nitrate and nitrogen reduction reaction

“…Dey's group emphasized on the selectivity aspect, through their report about the exclusive small molecule, nickel tri-nuclear complex, which can selectively reduce nitrogen to hydrazine, without the formation of nitrogenous by-product 38 . Surface functionalization or engineering of heterogeneous catalysts is one of the effective strategies for improving catalytic selectivity and providing stability during operation for NRR and NO3RR [39][40][41][42] . Therefore, the design and development of the transition metal supported 2D conducting graphene heterostructure could help improve electron transfer and charge transfer kinetics in electrochemical NRR and NO3RR.…”