Highly distributed amorphous copper catalyst for efficient ammonia electrosynthesis from nitrate

Identifying the active sites and intermediates on copper surfaces for electrochemical nitrate reduction to ammonia

“…4b). Concurrently, peaks of *NO 2 intermediates were observed as the result of NO 3 − reduction, 9,35–37 assigned to ν as (*ONO*) (1290 cm −1 ) and ν as (*ON = O) (1367 cm −1 ). More importantly, the appearance of *NO (1608 cm −1 ) at 0.0–−0.1 V signified the suitable binding strength with e-Cu and the occurrence of subsequent hydrogenation.…”

Defect engineering on electrocatalysts for sustainable nitrate reduction to ammonia: Fundamentals and regulations

“…Specifically, at more negative potentials ranging from À 0.3 V to À 0.6 V, the amorphous Cu experienced structural reorganization from an amorphous state to crystallization. [73] Therefore, it was observed that the amorphous Cu catalyst demonstrated favorable electrochemical stability at À 0.3 V. However, when the catalyst underwent crystallization, the stability was found to decrease significantly, particularly at more negative potentials. In this regard, the evolution of amorphous materials under reaction conditions needs to be particularly emphasized in the nitrate reduction process.…”

“…Shen et al prepared dispersed amorphous Cu nanoparticles supported on N-doped porous carbon nanofibers by solution chemical reduction method. [73] Both experimental and theoretical investigations demonstrated that the structural disorder of the amorphous Cu enhanced the activity of catalytic sites. This disorder effectively shifted the d-band center towards Fermi level, which in turn facilitated the potential determining step of *NO protonation to *NHO.…”

Engineering interfacial architectures toward nitrate electrocatalysis and nitrogen neutral cycle

“…94 Zhao et al synthesized trans-N,O-coordinated Ag SACs with a novel configuration of trans Ag-N 2 O 2 (Fig. 5d), 95 which inhibited the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) (Fig. 5e) and optimized the adsorption of intermediates, thereby promoting the potential-determining step in the eNO 3 RR.…”