Constructing dendritic arrays composed of copper nanowires loaded with polyaniline for efficient nitrate electroreduction to ammonia

Abstract

The use of electrochemical method to remove nitrate and reduce it to ammonia under mild conditions has attracted widespread attention. In this study, a dendritic structured electrode composed of polyaniline (PANI) modified copper nanowires was designed and synthesized on copper foam (CF) as the electrocatalytic nitrate (NO3-) reduction reaction (NO3-RR) catalyst. The PANI can not only accelerate the migration of electron, but also provide abundant active sites. The optimized sample exhibited an attractive electrocatalytic ability for NO3- reduction to NH3 with conversion rate, faradaic efficiency, and selectivity of 95.1%, 96.1%, and 98.38%, respectively, at −0.89 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). This work provides an efficient and convenient solution for solving nitrate pollution and achieving nitrogen cycling.