Atomic Co─P Catalytic Pair Drives Efficient Electrochemical Nitrate Reduction to Ammonia
Jiaqi Ni, Jing Yan, Fuhua Li, Haifeng Qi, Qingzhu Xu, Chenliang Su, Like Sun, Hongli Sun, Jie Ding, Bin Liu
Abstract
Abstract Electrochemically reducing nitrate (NO 3 − ), a common water pollutant, to valuable ammonia (NH 3 ) offers a green, sustainable, and decentralized route for ammonia synthesis. Electrochemical nitrate reduction reaction (NO 3 − RR) involves two crucial reaction steps: nitrate deoxygenation followed by nitrite hydrogenation; in particular, the nitrite hydrogenation reaction is the rate‐determining step (RDS) for NO 3 − RR. In this work, an atomically dispersed cobalt‐phosphorus (Co─P) catalytic pair (CP) with strong electronic coupling is reported. The Co site in Co─P CP effectively activates NO 3 − , while the P site in Co─P CP facilitates water dissociation to release H + , synergistically enhancing the thermodynamic and kinetic performance of electrochemical nitrate reduction to ammonia.