IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-025-56548-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Electrosynthesis of NH3 from NO with ampere-level current density in a pressurized electrolyzer

Author

Listed:
  • Wenqiang Yang

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Huan Liu

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Xiaoxia Chang

    (Peking University)

  • Yunlong Zhang

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Yafeng Cai

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Yifan Li

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Yi Cui

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Bingjun Xu

    (Peking University)

  • Liang Yu

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Xiaoju Cui

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Dehui Deng

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Abstract

Electrocatalytic NO reduction reaction (NORR) offers a promising route for sustainable NH3 synthesis along with removal of NO pollutant. However, it remains a great challenge to accomplish both high NH3 production rate and long duration to satisfy industrial application demands. Here, we report an in situ-formed hierarchical porous Cu nanowire array monolithic electrode ensembled in a pressurized electrolyzer to regulate NORR reaction kinetics and thermodynamics, which delivers an industrial-level NH3 partial current density of 1007 mA cm–2 with Faradaic efficiency of 96.1% and remains stable at 1000 mA cm–2 for 100 hours. Integrating the Cu nanowire array monolithic electrode with pressurized electrolyzer boosts the NH3 production rate to 10.5 mmol h–1 cm–2, which is over tenfold that using commercial Cu foam at 1 atm. The NORR performance can be attributed to the promoted NO mass transfer to the enriched Cu surface, which could increase the NO coverage on Cu and then destabilize adsorbed NO and weaken hydrogen adsorption, thereby facilitating NO hydrogenation to NH3 while suppressing the competing hydrogen evolution.

Suggested Citation

  • Wenqiang Yang & Huan Liu & Xiaoxia Chang & Yunlong Zhang & Yafeng Cai & Yifan Li & Yi Cui & Bingjun Xu & Liang Yu & Xiaoju Cui & Dehui Deng, 2025. "Electrosynthesis of NH3 from NO with ampere-level current density in a pressurized electrolyzer," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-56548-9
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-56548-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-56548-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-025-56548-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chade Lv & Lixiang Zhong & Hengjie Liu & Zhiwei Fang & Chunshuang Yan & Mengxin Chen & Yi Kong & Carmen Lee & Daobin Liu & Shuzhou Li & Jiawei Liu & Li Song & Gang Chen & Qingyu Yan & Guihua Yu, 2021. "Selective electrocatalytic synthesis of urea with nitrate and carbon dioxide," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 4(10), pages 868-876, October.
    2. Tian-Nan Ye & Sang-Won Park & Yangfan Lu & Jiang Li & Masato Sasase & Masaaki Kitano & Tomofumi Tada & Hideo Hosono, 2020. "Vacancy-enabled N2 activation for ammonia synthesis on an Ni-loaded catalyst," Nature, Nature, vol. 583(7816), pages 391-395, July.
    3. Wenhui He & Jian Zhang & Stefan Dieckhöfer & Swapnil Varhade & Ann Cathrin Brix & Anna Lielpetere & Sabine Seisel & João R. C. Junqueira & Wolfgang Schuhmann, 2022. "Splicing the active phases of copper/cobalt-based catalysts achieves high-rate tandem electroreduction of nitrate to ammonia," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-13, December.
    4. Huan Li & Jun Long & Huijuan Jing & Jianping Xiao, 2023. "Steering from electrochemical denitrification to ammonia synthesis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    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. 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.
    2. Jiao Lan & Zhen Wang & Cheng-wei Kao & Ying-Rui Lu & Feng Xie & Yongwen Tan, 2024. "Isolating Cu-Zn active-sites in Ordered Intermetallics to Enhance Nitrite-to-Ammonia Electroreduction," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    3. Qian Wu & Chencheng Dai & Fanxu Meng & Yan Jiao & Zhichuan J. Xu, 2024. "Potential and electric double-layer effect in electrocatalytic urea synthesis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    4. Bocheng Zhang & Zechuan Dai & Yanxu Chen & Mingyu Cheng & Huaikun Zhang & Pingyi Feng & Buqi Ke & Yangyang Zhang & Genqiang Zhang, 2024. "Defect-induced triple synergistic modulation in copper for superior electrochemical ammonia production across broad nitrate concentrations," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.
    5. Jian Zhang & Thomas Quast & Bashir Eid & Yen-Ting Chen & Ridha Zerdoumi & Stefan Dieckhöfer & João R. C. Junqueira & Sabine Seisel & Wolfgang Schuhmann, 2024. "In-situ electrochemical reconstruction and modulation of adsorbed hydrogen coverage in cobalt/ruthenium-based catalyst boost electroreduction of nitrate to ammonia," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    6. Bharath, G. & Karthikeyan, G. & Kumar, Anuj & Prakash, J. & Venkatasubbu, Devanand & Kumar Nadda, Ashok & Kumar Gupta, Vijai & Abu Haija, Mohammad & Banat, Fawzi, 2022. "Surface engineering of Au nanostructures for plasmon-enhanced electrochemical reduction of N2 and CO2 into urea in the visible-NIR region," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 318(C).
    7. 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.
    8. Wenzhe Niu & Jie Feng & Junfeng Chen & Lei Deng & Wen Guo & Huajing Li & Liqiang Zhang & Youyong Li & Bo Zhang, 2024. "High-efficiency C3 electrosynthesis on a lattice-strain-stabilized nitrogen-doped Cu surface," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    9. Mengqiu Xu & Fangfang Wu & Ye Zhang & Yuanhui Yao & Genping Zhu & Xiaoyu Li & Liang Chen & Gan Jia & Xiaohong Wu & Youju Huang & Peng Gao & Wei Ye, 2023. "Kinetically matched C–N coupling toward efficient urea electrosynthesis enabled on copper single-atom alloy," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    10. Hao Meng & Yusen Yang & Tianyao Shen & Zhiming Yin & Lei Wang & Wei Liu & Pan Yin & Zhen Ren & Lirong Zheng & Jian Zhang & Feng-Shou Xiao & Min Wei, 2023. "Designing Cu0−Cu+ dual sites for improved C−H bond fracture towards methanol steam reforming," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    11. Yanmei Huang & Caihong He & Chuanqi Cheng & Shuhe Han & Meng He & Yuting Wang & Nannan Meng & Bin Zhang & Qipeng Lu & Yifu Yu, 2023. "Pulsed electroreduction of low-concentration nitrate to ammonia," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    12. Huize Wang & Ranga Rohit Seemakurthi & Gao-Feng Chen & Volker Strauss & Oleksandr Savateev & Guangtong Hai & Liangxin Ding & Núria López & Haihui Wang & Markus Antonietti, 2023. "Laser-induced nitrogen fixation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-7, December.
    13. Ang Cao & Vanessa J. Bukas & Vahid Shadravan & Zhenbin Wang & Hao Li & Jakob Kibsgaard & Ib Chorkendorff & Jens K. Nørskov, 2022. "A spin promotion effect in catalytic ammonia synthesis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-7, December.
    14. Shengnan Sun & Chencheng Dai & Peng Zhao & Shibo Xi & Yi Ren & Hui Ru Tan & Poh Chong Lim & Ming Lin & Caozheng Diao & Danwei Zhang & Chao Wu & Anke Yu & Jie Cheng Jackson Koh & Wei Ying Lieu & Debbie, 2024. "Spin-related Cu-Co pair to increase electrochemical ammonia generation on high-entropy oxides," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    15. Shuo Zhang & Jianghua Wu & Mengting Zheng & Xin Jin & Zihan Shen & Zhonghua Li & Yanjun Wang & Quan Wang & Xuebin Wang & Hui Wei & Jiangwei Zhang & Peng Wang & Shanqing Zhang & Liyan Yu & Lifeng Dong , 2023. "Fe/Cu diatomic catalysts for electrochemical nitrate reduction to ammonia," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    16. Yurou Celine Xiao & Siyu Sonia Sun & Yong Zhao & Rui Kai Miao & Mengyang Fan & Geonhui Lee & Yuanjun Chen & Christine M. Gabardo & Yan Yu & Chenyue Qiu & Zunmin Guo & Xinyue Wang & Panagiotis Papangel, 2024. "Reactive capture of CO2 via amino acid," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    17. Fang, Jing & Xiong, Chuhao & Feng, Mingqian & Wu, Ye & Liu, Dong, 2022. "Utilization of carbon-based energy as raw material instead of fuel with low CO2 emissions: Energy analyses and process integration of chemical looping ammonia generation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 312(C).
    18. Sun, Shangcong & Jiang, Qiuqiao & Zhao, Dongyue & Cao, Tiantian & Sha, Hao & Zhang, Chuankun & Song, Haitao & Da, Zhijian, 2022. "Ammonia as hydrogen carrier: Advances in ammonia decomposition catalysts for promising hydrogen production," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    19. Xinhong Chen & Yumeng Cheng & Bo Zhang & Jia Zhou & Sisi He, 2024. "Gradient-concentration RuCo electrocatalyst for efficient and stable electroreduction of nitrate into ammonia," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    20. Chen, Chunchao & Ji, Rui & Xia, Xiaoyong & Jin, Liujun & Deng, Kaiyuan & Xu, Qingfeng & Lu, Jianmei, 2024. "Dispersed Bi2S3 site in a porphyrin-based metal–organic framework for photocatalytic nitrogen fixation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 357(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-56548-9. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.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.