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In-situ reconstruction of Ni-modulated BiO2−x for boosting electrocatalytic nitrite reduction to ammonia
Nano Research 2026, 19(2): 94908176
Published: 06 January 2026
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Electrocatalytic nitrite reduction reaction (NO2RR) to synthesize ammonia (NH3) has been constrained by sluggish kinetics of water dissociation and the weak adsorption of nitrite. In this work, we develop an in-situ reconstruction strategy that transforms Ni-doped BiO2−x (NiBiO2−x) to Bi/NiBiO2−x, which exhibits excellent activity and selectivity for NO2RR to synthesize NH3. Diverse ex-situ and in-situ characterizations reveal potential-driven structural transformation from NiBiO2−x to Bi/NiBiO2−x, which features dual Ni2+-Bi0 active sites. The Ni2+ site is able to reduce the water dissociation barrier from 0.79 to 0.41 eV, while concurrently the Bi0 site can strengthen NO2 adsorption to promote *NO2H intermediate formation. Consequently, the in-situ constructed Bi/NiBiO2−x catalyst with Ni2+-Bi0 catalytic pairs enable an excellent NO2RR performance, achieving a NH3 Faradaic efficiency (FENH3) of 94.5% at −0.6 V vs. RHE. The present study opens the new direction to in-situ construct high-performance electroreduction catalysts for small molecule synthesis.

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