IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-025-58811-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Insights into lattice oxygen and strains of oxide-derived copper for ammonia electrosynthesis from nitrate

Author

Listed:
  • Qinyue Wu

    (Dalian University of Technology)

  • Xinfei Fan

    (Dalian Maritime University)

  • Bing Shan

    (Zhejiang University)

  • Liang Qi

    (Dalian University of Technology)

  • Xie Quan

    (Dalian University of Technology)

  • Yanming Liu

    (Dalian University of Technology
    Dalian University of Technology)

Abstract

Electrocatalytic NO3− reduction (eNO3RR) is a sustainable method for purification of NO3− wastewater and NH3 recovery. Cu-based catalysts are promising for eNO3RR, but insufficient active hydrogen (*H) supply and *NO2 poison of active sites have hindered their performance, and the catalytic mechanism remains ambiguous. Here, we report oxide-derived copper nanosheet arrays (OD-Cu NSs) with residual lattice oxygen and lattice strains to enhance NH3 synthesis from eNO3RR. It is efficient for NH3 synthesis with high Faradaic efficiencies of 88.7-99.7% and maximum NH3 yield of 6.20 mmol·h−1·cm−2 at neutral solution, 10-140 mM NO3− and 50-1500 mA·cm−2. Experimental and theoretical results reveal that lattice oxygen regulates the electronic structure of OD-Cu NSs and promotes *NO2 conversion, while lattice strain enhances *H generation from water dissociation, resulting in the good performance for NH3 synthesis. The applicability of OD-Cu NSs is proved by the high recovery of ammonia compound from eNO3RR.

Suggested Citation

  • Qinyue Wu & Xinfei Fan & Bing Shan & Liang Qi & Xie Quan & Yanming Liu, 2025. "Insights into lattice oxygen and strains of oxide-derived copper for ammonia electrosynthesis from nitrate," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-58811-5
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-58811-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-58811-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-025-58811-5?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
    ---><---

    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_s41467-025-58811-5. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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.