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Dual-metal sites in MOF synergistic boosting NH3 production under low-nitrate concentration
Nano Research 2025, 18(8): 94907592
Published: 07 July 2025
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The electrocatalytic conversion of nitrate to ammonia has made significant progress as a promising strategy for removing NO3 and producing NH3. However, there is a lack of an efficient electrocatalyst to achieve highly selective NH3 synthesis under low concentration NO3 conditions. In this study, we design and synthesize a bimetallic copper-containing metal-organic framework (MOF) (CuInL4, L = 4-(4-pyridyl)benzoic acid), named InCu-MOF, which possesses 2-fold interpenetrating structure and high-density catalytic sites. InCu-MOF is the first MOF catalyst applied to NH3 synthesis at low NO3 concentration. Benefiting from the regulation of electronic properties and synergistic catalytic effects of two metal active sites, InCu-MOF exhibits high catalytic activity for the low concentration of NO3 reduction reaction (NO3RR) for the first time. At a potential of −1.0 V (vs. RHE), InCu-MOF achieves NH3 faradaic efficiency (FE) of 82% and yield rate of 892 µg·h−1·mgcat−1, which FE is 2.6-fold and yield rate are 8.1-fold higher than that of In-MOF. The design and synthesis of this interpenetrating bimetallic MOF provides an idea for the construction of an efficient catalyst at low NO3 concentrations.

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