Enhanced electrocatalytic nitrate-to-ammonia performance from Mott-Schottky design to induce electron redistribution.

Constructing highly efficient electrocatalysts interface manipulation and structural design to facilitate rapid electron transfer in electrocatalytic nitrate-to-ammonia conversion is crucial to attaining superior NH yield rates. Here, a Mott-Schottky type electrocatalyst of Co/InO with a continuous fiber structure has been designed to boost the electrocatalytic nitrate-to-ammonia performance. The optimized Co/InO-1 catalyst exhibits an impressive NH yield rate of 70.1 mg cm h at -0.8 V the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), along with an NH faradaic efficiency (FE) of 93.34% at 0 V RHE, greatly outperforming the single-component Co and InO samples. The yield rate of Co/InO-1 is also superior to that of most currently reported Co-based catalysts and heterostructured ones. Evidence from experiments and theoretical results confirms the formation of a Mott-Schottky heterojunction, which achieves a Co site enriched with electrons, coupled with an InO facet enriched with holes, inducing an electron redistribution to promote the utilization of electroactive sites. Consequently, the reaction energy barrier for nitrate-to-ammonia conversion is significantly reduced, further enhancing its yield efficiency.