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Communication

Electrochemical NO reduction to NH3 on Cu single atom catalyst

Kai Chen1,§Guike Zhang1,§Xiaotian Li1Xiaolin Zhao2Ke Chu1( )
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070, China
National Engineering Laboratory for Electric Vehicles, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China

§ Kai Chen and Guike Zhang contributed equally to this work.

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Graphical Abstract

Single-atomic Cu anchored on MoS2 (Cu1/MoS2) is confirmed to be a highly efficient catalyst for electrocatalytic NO reduction to NH3, attributed to the pivotal function of Cu1-S3 motifs to boost NO activation and hydrogenation and simultaneously impeding proton coverage.

Abstract

Electrochemical NO reduction reaction (NORR) to generate NH3 emerges as a fascinating approach to achieve both NO pollution mitigation and sustainable NH3 synthesis. Herein, we demonstrate that single-atomic Cu anchored on MoS2 (Cu1/MoS2) comprising Cu1-S3 motifs can serve as a highly efficient NORR catalyst. Cu1/MoS2 exhibits an NH3 yield rate of 337.5 μmol·h−1·cm−2 with a Faradaic efficiency of 90.6% at −0.6 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). Combined experiments and theoretical calculations reveal that Cu1-S3 motifs enable the effective activation and hydrogenation of NO through a mixed pathway and simultaneously retard proton coverage, contributing to the high activity and selectivity of Cu1/MoS2 for the NORR.

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Nano Research
Pages 5857-5863
Cite this article:
Chen K, Zhang G, Li X, et al. Electrochemical NO reduction to NH3 on Cu single atom catalyst. Nano Research, 2023, 16(4): 5857-5863. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-5384-9
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Received: 05 October 2022
Revised: 02 December 2022
Accepted: 04 December 2022
Published: 23 December 2022
© Tsinghua University Press 2023
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