Ampere-level current density ammonia electrochemical synthesis using CuCo nanosheets simulating nitrite reductase bifunctional nature

🤖 Plain-English Summary

Abstract The development of electrocatalysts capable of efficient reduction of nitrate (NO 3 − ) to ammonia (NH 3 ) is drawing increasing interest for the sake of low carbon emission and environmental protection. A mechanistic study, using electrochemical in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and shell-isolated nanoparticle enhanced Raman spectroscopy, reveals a strong synergy between Cu and Co, with Co sites promoting the hydrogenation of NO 3 − to NH 3 via adsorbed *H species.

🔑 Key Findings

• Herein, we present a CuCo bimetallic catalyst able to imitate the bifunctional nature of copper-type nitrite reductase, which could easily remove NO 2 − via the collaboration of two active centers.
• Indeed, Co acts as an electron/proton donating center, while Cu facilitates NO x − adsorption/association.
• The bio-inspired CuCo nanosheet electrocatalyst delivers a 100 ± 1% Faradaic efficiency at an ampere-level current density of 1035 mA cm −2 at −0.2 V vs .

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