Why copper catalyzes electrochemical reduction of nitrate to ammonia

Abstract

Electrochemical reduction of nitrate (NO3RR) has drawn significant attention in the scientific community as an attractive route for ammonia synthesis as well as alleviating environmental concerns for nitrate pollution. To...

Recent progress in the advanced strategies, rational design, and engineering of electrocatalysts for nitrate reduction toward ammonia

“…Furthermore, Cu-based catalysts have a weak ability for hydrogen evolution and outstanding selectivity towards ammonia production. 37,38 Organic crystalline 3,4,9,10-perylene tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) has exceptional electrocatalytic activity, so it was combined with copper by Chen et al in 2020. 39 Since the adsorption energies of NO 3 À on the Cu-PTCDA surface are significantly higher than those on the Cu(111) plane, as represented in Fig.…”

“…Furthermore, Cu-based catalysts have a weak ability for hydrogen evolution and outstanding selectivity towards ammonia production. 37,38…”

Recent Advances in Electrocatalysts for Efficient Nitrate Reduction to Ammonia

“…Cu-based catalysts were found to be effective for e-NO 3 RR in both theoretical and experimental studies. [38,88] The e-NO 3 RR process on Cu follows the direct reduction mechanism, where the ratedetermining step, "*NO to *NOH", has low limiting potential, leading to a high efficiency. [88] Compared with Ru and Pd, Cu is cheap and earth-abundant, which may be suitable for industrial applications.…”

“…[38,88] The e-NO 3 RR process on Cu follows the direct reduction mechanism, where the ratedetermining step, "*NO to *NOH", has low limiting potential, leading to a high efficiency. [88] Compared with Ru and Pd, Cu is cheap and earth-abundant, which may be suitable for industrial applications. For example, the commercial copper foam was used as an electrocatalyst in e-NO 3 RR.…”

Electrodeposited copper–nickel nanoparticles as highly efficient electrocatalysts for nitrate reduction to ammonia

“…Encouragingly, copper (Cu) is an abundantly produced metal 32 and has already been triumphally exploited for NO 3 − electroreduction. 26,[33][34][35][36][37][38][39] However, Cu-based electrocatalysts still have the following nonnegligible problems. Firstly, during the nitrate reduction process, the more toxic product, NO 2…”