Li Xiuhong, Li Zerong, Zhang Longcheng, Zhao Donglin, Li Jun, Sun Shengjun, Xie Lisi, Liu Qian, Alshehri Abdulmohsen Ali, Luo Yonglan, Liao Yunwen, Kong Qingquan, Sun Xuping
Chemical Synthesis and Pollution Control Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, China West Normal University, Nanchong 637002, Sichuan, China.
Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, Sichuan, China.
Nanoscale. 2022 Sep 22;14(36):13073-13077. doi: 10.1039/d2nr03540e.
Electrocatalytic nitrite (NO) reduction to ammonia (NH) can not only synthesize value-added NH, but also remove NO pollutants from the environment. However, the low efficiency of NO-to-NH conversion hinders its applications. Here, Ni nanoparticle-decorated juncus-derived biomass carbon prepared at 800 °C (Ni@JBC-800) serves as an efficient catalyst for NH synthesis by selective electroreduction of NO. This catalyst shows a remarkable NH yield of 4117.3 μg h mg and a large faradaic efficiency of 83.4% in an alkaline electrolyte. The catalytic mechanism is further investigated by theoretical calculations.