Cu<i><sub>x</sub></i>Ir<sub>1–<i>x</i></sub> Nanoalloy Catalysts Achieve Near 100% Selectivity for Aqueous Nitrite Reduction to NH<sub>3</sub>
Hao Li, Chenxu Yan, Hongyu Guo, Kihyun Shin, Simon M. Humphrey, Charles J. Werth, Graeme Henkelman
Abstract
Nitrite (NO2–) is an abundant contaminant in nature that threatens human health. A catalytic process that converts NO2– to less harmful products has been proven to be an effective strategy for NO2– removal. Most previous studies, however, targeted selectivity toward N2 using Pd catalysts, which severely limits the potential for the recovery of value-added byproducts from the catalytic process. Here, we report experimental and theoretical evidence that both Ir and CuxIr(100–x) nanoparticles possess near 100% NH3 selectivity for NO2– reduction compared to the <1% NH3 selectivity achieved by nano-Pd. These NH3-selective catalysts could be useful for both water purification and ammonia production.