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Updated: Aug 9, 2025

Synthesis and Performance Characterizations of Transition Metal Single Atom Catalyst for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction
Published on: April 10, 2018
N-Coordinated Cu-Ni Dual-Single-Atom Catalyst for Highly Selective Electrocatalytic Reduction of Nitrate to Ammonia
Yunlong Wang1,2, Haibo Yin1, Feng Dong3
1State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, P. R. China.
Abstract:
As a traditional method of ammonia (NH3 ) synthesis, Haber-Bosch method expends a vast amount of energy. An alternative route for NH3 synthesis is proposed from nitrate (NO3 - ) via electrocatalysis. However, the structure-activity relationship remains challenging and requires in-depth research both experimentally and theoretically. Here an N-coordinated Cu-Ni dual-single-atom catalyst anchored in N-doped carbon (Cu/Ni-NC) is reported, which has competitive activity with a maximal NH3 Faradaic efficiency of 97.28%. Detailed characterizations demonstrate that the high activity of Cu/Ni-NC mainly comes from the contribution of Cu-Ni dual active sites. That is, (1) the electron transfer (Ni → Cu) reveals the strong electron interaction of Cu-Ni dual-single-atom; (2) the strong hybridizations of Cu 3d-and Ni 3d-O 2p orbitals of NO3 - can accelerate electron transfer from Cu-Ni dual-site to NO3 - ; (3) Cu/Ni-NC can effectively decrease the rate-limiting step barriers, suppress N-N coupling for N2 O and N2 formation and hydrogen production.
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