Boron Regulated Fe Single-Atom Structures for Electrocatalytic Nitrate Reduction to Ammonia
Xihui Lu, Jinshan Wei, Hexing Lin, Yi Li, Yayun Li, Ya-yun Li, Ya-yun Li
Abstract
Electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate (NO 3 RR) to ammonia offers a promising approach for mitigating the environmental impact of NO 3 –, while simultaneously enabling the synthesis of NH 3 under ambient conditions. Recently, single-atom catalysts (SACs) have been proven to have attractive activity on NO 3 RR, and better catalysts with enhanced activity and stability are still in demand. Here, we report the efficient boosting of NH 3 production via the NO 3 RR using boron-doped Fe SAC (Fe-BCN). Fe-BCN is a normal 12-hedral nanoparticle with a size of 500 nm. The NH 3 Faradaic efficiency of Fe-BCN reached 97.48%, with a high ammonia production rate of 2.17 mg cm –2 h –1, in an alkaline electrolyte environment at an electrode potential of −0.3 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode. Density functional theory calculations revealed the strategy of introduced B regulating the intermediate adsorption on Fe-BCN, which enhanced the NO 3 RR activity. Furthermore, leveraging the high NO 3 RR activity of Fe-BCN, a nitrate-zinc battery with a power density of 0.90 mW cm –2 was constructed by using Fe-BCN as the cathode and zinc as the anode, respectively. This research demonstrates the broad prospects of Fe-BCN in the NO 3 RR and provides insights for high-performance Fe SAC electrode materials.