Electrochemical NO reduction to NH3 on Cu single atom catalyst
Kai Chen, Guike Zhang, Xiaotian Li, Xiaolin Zhao, Ke Chu
Abstract
Electrochemical NO reduction reaction (NORR) to generate NH3 emerges as a fascinating approach to achieve both NO pollution mitigation and sustainable NH3 synthesis. Herein, we demonstrate that single-atomic Cu anchored on MoS2 (Cu1/MoS2) comprising Cu1-S3 motifs can serve as a highly efficient NORR catalyst. Cu1/MoS2 exhibits an NH3 yield rate of 337.5 µmol·h−1·cm−2 with a Faradaic efficiency of 90.6% at −0.6 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). Combined experiments and theoretical calculations reveal that Cu1-S3 motifs enable the effective activation and hydrogenation of NO through a mixed pathway and simultaneously retard proton coverage, contributing to the high activity and selectivity of Cu1/MoS2 for the NORR.