IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v17y2024i17p4467-d1472293.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Harnessing Heterogeneous Interface and Oxygen Vacancy in Cu/Cu 2 O for Efficient Electrocatalytic Nitrate Reduction to Ammonia

Author

Listed:
  • Yaxuan Li

    (Hunan Province Key Laboratory of Materials Surface & Interface Science and Technology, College of Material Science and Engineering, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha 410004, China)

  • Ling Fang

    (Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing 400714, China)

  • Yuanjuan Bai

    (Hunan Province Key Laboratory of Materials Surface & Interface Science and Technology, College of Material Science and Engineering, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha 410004, China)

Abstract

In recent years, the electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate to ammonia (NRA) has garnered significant research attention. However, the complex multi-step proton–electron transfer process often results in various by-products, limiting NH 3 production. Therefore, designing and developing highly active and selective electrocatalysts for efficient NRA is crucial. This study proposes a method to construct Cu/Cu 2 O nanosheet arrays with heterogeneous interfaces and oxygen vacancies on copper foam surfaces through electrochemical reduction. The interface coupling between Cu and Cu 2 O significantly optimizes the catalyst’s surface electronic structure, providing sufficient active sites. In addition, the presence of oxygen vacancies in Cu/Cu 2 O can optimize the adsorption kinetics of intermediates in the NRA process and effectively inhibit the formation of by-products. The results show that Cu/CuO 2 nanosheet arrays are superior NRA catalysts, achieving a Faradaic efficiency of up to 91.1%, a nitrate conversion of 96.25%, and an NH 3 yield rate of 6.11 mg h −1 cm −2 .

Suggested Citation

  • Yaxuan Li & Ling Fang & Yuanjuan Bai, 2024. "Harnessing Heterogeneous Interface and Oxygen Vacancy in Cu/Cu 2 O for Efficient Electrocatalytic Nitrate Reduction to Ammonia," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-12, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:17:p:4467-:d:1472293
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/17/4467/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/17/4467/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yueshen Wu & Zhan Jiang & Zhichao Lin & Yongye Liang & Hailiang Wang, 2021. "Direct electrosynthesis of methylamine from carbon dioxide and nitrate," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 4(8), pages 725-730, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nannan Meng & Jiang Shao & Hongjiao Li & Yuting Wang & Xiaoli Fu & Cuibo Liu & Yifu Yu & Bin Zhang, 2022. "Electrosynthesis of formamide from methanol and ammonia under ambient conditions," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    2. Meng He & Yongmeng Wu & Rui Li & Yuting Wang & Cuibo Liu & Bin Zhang, 2023. "Aqueous pulsed electrochemistry promotes C−N bond formation via a one-pot cascade approach," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    3. Eamonn Murphy & Yuanchao Liu & Ivana Matanovic & Martina Rüscher & Ying Huang & Alvin Ly & Shengyuan Guo & Wenjie Zang & Xingxu Yan & Andrea Martini & Janis Timoshenko & Beatriz Roldán Cuenya & Iryna , 2023. "Elucidating electrochemical nitrate and nitrite reduction over atomically-dispersed transition metal sites," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, December.
    4. Yilong Zhao & Yunxuan Ding & Wenlong Li & Chang Liu & Yingzheng Li & Ziqi Zhao & Yu Shan & Fei Li & Licheng Sun & Fusheng Li, 2023. "Efficient urea electrosynthesis from carbon dioxide and nitrate via alternating Cu–W bimetallic C–N coupling sites," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    5. Kui Fan & Wenfu Xie & Jinze Li & Yining Sun & Pengcheng Xu & Yang Tang & Zhenhua Li & Mingfei Shao, 2022. "Active hydrogen boosts electrochemical nitrate reduction to ammonia," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-13, December.
    6. Jiao Lan & Zengxi Wei & Ying-Rui Lu & DeChao Chen & Shuangliang Zhao & Ting-Shan Chan & Yongwen Tan, 2023. "Efficient electrosynthesis of formamide from carbon monoxide and nitrite on a Ru-dispersed Cu nanocluster catalyst," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    7. Rui Li & Yongmeng Wu & Changhong Wang & Meng He & Cuibo Liu & Bin Zhang, 2022. "One-pot H/D exchange and low-coordinated iron electrocatalyzed deuteration of nitriles in D2O to α,β-deuterio aryl ethylamines," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    8. Yongmeng Wu & Jinghui Zhao & Changhong Wang & Tieliang Li & Bo-Hang Zhao & Ziyang Song & Cuibo Liu & Bin Zhang, 2023. "Electrosynthesis of a nylon-6 precursor from cyclohexanone and nitrite under ambient conditions," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-7, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:17:p:4467-:d:1472293. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.