High-efficiency NO electroreduction to NH3 over honeycomb carbon nanofiber at ambient conditions
Ling Ouyang1, Qiang Zhou2, Jie Liang1
1Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan 610054, China.
Abstract:
Electrocatalytic NO reduction is a promising technology for ambient NO removal with simultaneous production of highly value-added NH3. Herein, we report that honeycomb carbon nanofiber coated on carbon paper acts as an efficient metal-free catalyst for ambient electroreduction of NO to NH3. In 0.2 M Na2SO4 solution, such catalyst achieves an NH3 yield of 22.35 μmol h-1 cm-2 with a high Faradaic efficiency of up to 88.33%. Impressively, it also shows excellent stability for 10-h continuous electrolysis. Theoretical calculations reveal that the most active center of functional groups is -OH group for NO reduction with a low energy barrier (ΔG of 0.29 eV) for the potential-determining step (*NO + H → *HNO).
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