Enhanced Nitrate-to-Ammonia Activity on Copper–Nickel Alloys via Tuning of Intermediate Adsorption

Electrochemical conversion of nitrate (NO3–) into ammonia (NH3) recycles nitrogen and offers a route to the production of NH3, which is more valuable than dinitrogen gas. However, today’s development of NO3– electroreduction remains hindered by the lack of a mechanistic picture of how catalyst structure may be tuned to enhance catalytic activity. Here we demonstrate enhanced NO3– reduction reaction (NO3–RR) performance on Cu50Ni50 alloy catalysts, including a 0.12 V upshift in the half-wave potential and a 6-fold increase in activity compared to those obtained with pure Cu at 0 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). Ni alloying enables tuning of the Cu d-band center and modulates the adsorption energies of…

• UD
  U.S. Department of Energy

  Awards: AC02-06CH11357, DE-AC02, 06CH11357, DE-AC02-06CH11357, DE-AC02-
• CI
  Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
• CL
  Canadian Light Source

  Award: DE-AC02-06CH11357
• OC
  Ontario Centres of Excellence
• GO
  Government of Ontario
• GO
  Government of Canada
• UO
  University of Toronto
• M
  Mitacs
• OO
  Office of Science

  Awards: DE-AC02-06CH11357, DE-AC02, 06CH11357, AC02-06CH11357
• NS
  Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

  Award: DE-AC02-06CH11357
• AN
  Argonne National Laboratory

  Awards: DE-AC02, 06CH11357, AC02-06CH11357