Promoting active hydrogen supply for kinetically matched tandem electrocatalytic nitrate reduction to ammonia

Abstract

Electrocatalytic nitrate reduction (NO3RR) shows admirable potential for environmental remediation and producing valuable NH3. However, the catalyst is restricted by the kinetic mismatch between NO3--to-NO2- and NO2--to-NH3, which results in excess NO2- and poor NH3 selectivity. Herein, a kinetically matched tandem electrocatalytic strategy with tunable active hydrogen(*H) supply is designed. The combination of Cu2O and Co11(HPO3)8(OH)6 (CoPO) playing key roles in NO3RR by i) on-demand supply of *H from CoPO; ii) the electronically coupled interface between Cu2O and CoPO enhance *H transfer kinetics. The Cu2O-CoPO-2 exhibits high NH3 yield of 22 mg cm−2 h−1 with Faradaic efficiency of 95 % at −0.37 V vs. RHE. In situ characterizations indicate the dynamic equilibrium between *H production and consumption contributes to high NO3RR performance. The techno-economic analyses reveal the system is economically viable compared to Haber-Bosch (H-B) process, which benefits from industrial current densities and superior energy efficiency at low potentials.