High-efficiency electrocatalytic nitrite-to-ammonia conversion on molybdenum doped cobalt oxide nanoarray at ambient conditions

Ye Li; Ling Ouyang; Jie Chen; Xiaoya Fan; Hang Sun; Xun He; Dongdong Zheng; Shengjun Sun; Yongsong Luo; Qian Liu; Luming Li; Wei Chu; Juan Du; Qingquan Kong; Baozhan Zheng; Xuping Sun

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2024.02.153

High-efficiency electrocatalytic nitrite-to-ammonia conversion on molybdenum doped cobalt oxide nanoarray at ambient conditions

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2024 Jun:663:405-412. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2024.02.153. Epub 2024 Feb 23.

Authors

Ye Li¹, Ling Ouyang², Jie Chen², Xiaoya Fan², Hang Sun³, Xun He², Dongdong Zheng⁴, Shengjun Sun⁴, Yongsong Luo⁴, Qian Liu⁵, Luming Li⁵, Wei Chu⁵, Juan Du⁶, Qingquan Kong⁷, Baozhan Zheng⁸, Xuping Sun⁹

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, Sichuan, China; Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, Sichuan, China.
² Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, Sichuan, China.
³ Department of Science and Environmental Studies, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Social Science, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China.
⁴ College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Shandong Normal University, Jinan 250014, Shandong, China.
⁵ Institute for Advanced Study, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, Sichuan, China.
⁶ College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, Sichuan, China.
⁷ Institute for Advanced Study, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, Sichuan, China. Electronic address: kongqingquan@cdu.edu.cn.
⁸ College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, Sichuan, China; College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, Henan, China. Electronic address: zhengbaozhan@scu.edu.cn.
⁹ Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, Sichuan, China; College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Shandong Normal University, Jinan 250014, Shandong, China. Electronic address: xpsun@uestc.edu.cn.

PMID: 38412726
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2024.02.153

Abstract

Electrochemical conversion of nitrite (NO₂^-) contaminant to green ammonia (NH₃) is a promising approach to achieve the nitrogen cycle. The slow kinetics of the complex multi-reaction process remains a serious issue, and there is still a need to design highly effective and selective catalysts. Herein, we report that molybdenum doped cobalt oxide nanoarray on titanium mesh (Mo-Co₃O₄/TM) acts as a catalyst to facilitate electroreduction of NO₂^- to NH₃. Such a catalyst delivers an extremely high Faradaic efficiency of 96.9 % and a corresponding NH₃ yield of 651.5 μmol h^-1 cm^-2 at -0.5 V with strong stability. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the introduction of Mo can induce the redistribution of electrons around Co atoms and further strengthen the adsorption of NO₂^-, which is the key to facilitating the catalytic performance. Furthermore, the assembled battery based on Mo-Co₃O₄/TM suggests its practical application value.

Keywords: Density functional theory; Electrochemical NO(2)(−) conversion; Mo-doped Co(3)O(4) nanoarray; NH(3) production.