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Nano Research 2023, 16(10): 12357-12362 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-6126-8
Research Article | Issue | Published: 14 September 2023

Copper nanowires decorated with TiO2−x from MXene for enhanced electrocatalytic nitrogen oxidation into nitrate under vacuum assistance

Show Author's Information Quan Li1,  Zhengting Xiao1,2,  Weina Jia1,  Qin Li3( ),  Xianguo Li1( ),  Wentai Wang1( )
Key Laboratory of Marine Chemistry Theory and Technology, Ministry of Education; College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China
Key Laboratory of Biofuels, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266101, China
Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre, School of Engineering and Built Environment, Griffith University Nathan Campus, Brisbane, QLD 4111, Australia
Keywords:
electrocatalysis, Zn-nitrate battery, nitrogen oxidation, nitrate production, Zn-N2 system, vacuum assistance
Topics:
Electrocatalysis
Cite this article:
Li Q, Xiao Z, Jia W, et al. Copper nanowires decorated with TiO2−x from MXene for enhanced electrocatalytic nitrogen oxidation into nitrate under vacuum assistance. Nano Research, 2023, 16(10): 12357-12362. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-6126-8
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

The green synthesis of nitrate (NO3−) via electrocatalytic nitrogen oxidation reaction (NOR) is a promising strategy for artificial nitrogen fixation, which shows great advantages than traditional nitrate synthesis based on Haber–Bosch and Ostwald processes. But the poor N2 absorption, high bond energy of N≡N (941 kJ·mol−1), and competing multi-electron-transfer oxygen evolution reaction (OER) limit the activity and selectivity. Herein, we fabricated MXene-derived irregular TiO2−x nanoparticles anchored Cu nanowires (Cu-NWs) electrode for efficient electrocatalytic nitrogen oxidation, which exhibits a NO3− yield of 62.50 μg·h−1·mgcat−1 and a Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 22.04%, and a significantly enhanced NO3− yield of 92.63 μg·h−1·mgcat−1, and a FE of 40.58% under vacuum assistance. The TiO2−x/Cu-NWs electrode also shows excellent reproducibility and stability under optimal experimental conditions. Moreover, a Zn-N2 reaction device was assembled with TiO2−x/Cu-NWs as an anode and Zn plate as a cathode, obtaining an extremely high NO3− yield of 156.25 µg·h−1·mgcat−1. The Zn-nitrate battery shows an open circuit voltage (OCV) of 1.35 V. This work provides novel strategies for enhancing the performance of ambient N2 oxidation to obtain higher NO3− yield.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Copper nanowires decorated with TiO2−x from MXene for enhanced electrocatalytic nitrogen oxidation into nitrate under vacuum assistance

Show Author's information Quan Li1, Zhengting Xiao1,2, Weina Jia1, Qin Li3( ), Xianguo Li1( ), Wentai Wang1( )
Key Laboratory of Marine Chemistry Theory and Technology, Ministry of Education; College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China
Key Laboratory of Biofuels, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266101, China
Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre, School of Engineering and Built Environment, Griffith University Nathan Campus, Brisbane, QLD 4111, Australia

Abstract

The green synthesis of nitrate (NO3−) via electrocatalytic nitrogen oxidation reaction (NOR) is a promising strategy for artificial nitrogen fixation, which shows great advantages than traditional nitrate synthesis based on Haber–Bosch and Ostwald processes. But the poor N2 absorption, high bond energy of N≡N (941 kJ·mol−1), and competing multi-electron-transfer oxygen evolution reaction (OER) limit the activity and selectivity. Herein, we fabricated MXene-derived irregular TiO2−x nanoparticles anchored Cu nanowires (Cu-NWs) electrode for efficient electrocatalytic nitrogen oxidation, which exhibits a NO3− yield of 62.50 μg·h−1·mgcat−1 and a Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 22.04%, and a significantly enhanced NO3− yield of 92.63 μg·h−1·mgcat−1, and a FE of 40.58% under vacuum assistance. The TiO2−x/Cu-NWs electrode also shows excellent reproducibility and stability under optimal experimental conditions. Moreover, a Zn-N2 reaction device was assembled with TiO2−x/Cu-NWs as an anode and Zn plate as a cathode, obtaining an extremely high NO3− yield of 156.25 µg·h−1·mgcat−1. The Zn-nitrate battery shows an open circuit voltage (OCV) of 1.35 V. This work provides novel strategies for enhancing the performance of ambient N2 oxidation to obtain higher NO3− yield.

Keywords: electrocatalysis, Zn-nitrate battery, nitrogen oxidation, nitrate production, Zn-N2 system, vacuum assistance

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 28 June 2023
Revised: 13 August 2023
Accepted: 24 August 2023
Published: 14 September 2023
Issue date: October 2023

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press 2023

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the financial support by the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (No. ZR2021MB075) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51602297).

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