Ni@TiO<sub>2</sub> Nanoarray with the Schottky Junction for the Highly Selective Electrochemical Reduction of Nitrite to Ammonia
Xianchang Ji, Chaoqun Ma, Fei Zhang, Xun He, Xiaoya Fan, Jun Li, Zixiao Li, Ling Ouyang, Longcheng Zhang, Tengyue Li, Donglin Zhao, Yan Wang, Jing Zhang, Zhengwei Cai, Shengjun Sun, Abdulmohsen Ali Alshehri, Qipeng Lu, Xuping Sun
Abstract
Electrocatalytic reduction of nitrite (NO 2 – ) is of vital significance for the removal of NO 2 – pollution and simultaneously making value-added ammonia (NH 3 ). Herein, Ni nanoparticles anchored on the TiO 2 nanoribbon array with the Schottky junction were successfully constructed for highly selective NO 2 – reduction to NH 3 . Density functional theory reveals the construction of the Ni@TiO 2 Schottky junction leads to charge rearrangement and optimized adsorptive energy of intermediates, assuring the selective conversion from NO 2 – to NH 3 . Expectantly, this catalyst achieves an impressive NH 3 yield of 568.7 μmol h –1 cm –2 and an ultrahigh Faradaic efficiency of 98.5% under ambient conditions with good stability.