TY  - JOUR
AU  - Park, Juhyeon
AU  - Cherusseri, Jayesh
AU  - Theerthagiri, Jayaraman
AU  - Min, Ahreum
AU  - Kumar, Anuj
AU  - Kim, Gyeong-Ah
AU  - Bharadwaj, Nivarthi Rajiv
AU  - Lee, Sanggyeong
AU  - Rimal Isaac R. S., 
AU  - Choi, Myong Yong
PY  - 2026
TI  - Levitation-guided disorder engineering unlocks efficient nitrite-to-ammonia electroconversion
JO  - Industrial Chemistry & Materials
SN  - 2755-2608
SP  - 690
EP  - 705
VL  - 4
IS  - 5
AB  - Electrocatalytic conversion of nitrite (NO2−) to ammonia (NH3) via the NO2− reduction reaction (eNO2RR) presents a promising approach. Prussian blue analog (PBA)–based electrocatalysts are potential candidates for eNO2RR owing to their good activity and selectivity. Herein, to the best of our knowledge, for the first time, we report a facile synthesis of a flower-like copper (Cu)–cobalt (Co) PBA sulfide (CuCoPBA-S) using pulsed laser irradiation in liquid and investigate its formation mechanism using acoustic levitation coupled with in situ Raman spectroscopy. This approach enables contaminant-free, rapid, and cost-effective synthesis of electrocatalysts. The sulfurization process is shown to be time-dependent in the formation of ordered/disordered flower-like CuCoPBA-S structures. CuCoPBA-S considerably influences the eNO2RR, achieving a NH3 faradaic efficiency (FE) of 80.91% and an NH3 yield rate of 3394.1 μg h−1 cm−2 at a fixed potential of −0.5 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). Moreover, density functional theory analysis validates the eNO2RR pathway facilitated by CuCoPBA-S during the electrocatalytic conversion of NO2− to NH3, and the rate-determining step in the pathway is the hydrogenation of *NH2O to *NH2OH.
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1039/d6im00053c
DO  - 10.1039/d6im00053c