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Published on: December 6, 2021
Construction of a Synergistic Ag/Co(OH)2 Composite for Efficient Nitrate Electroreduction to Ammonia
Jingyi Xu1, Ruixiang Ge1, Congcong Jian1
1College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology,Qingdao, Shandong 266590, P. R. China.
Abstract:
Developing efficient electrocatalysts for the nitrate reduction reaction (NO3RR) to produce ammonia is of great significance. In this work, a Ag nanoparticle-modified Co(OH)2 catalyst was prepared by electrodeposition and liquid-phase deposition. The Ag/Co(OH)2 composite exhibits significantly enhanced NO3RR performance in comparison with Co(OH)2, achieving a high NH3 FE and a yield rate of 95.6% and 97.1 μmol h-1 cm-2 at -0.6 V in a neutral medium. Comprehensive characterizations confirm the strong interfacial coupling between Ag and Co(OH)2, while electrochemical studies reveal synergistic effects that simultaneously enhance nitrate adsorption and moderate hydrogen adsorption. Such a probable NO3RR tandem mechanism is proposed in which Ag dominates the initial 2e- pathway (*NO3→*NO2) and Co(OH)2 was prior in the subsequent *NO hydrogenation into *NH3. This work provides both a novel catalyst and fundamental insights into the composite material design for electrochemical NO3RR.
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