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Updated: Apr 18, 2026
The Synthesis, Characterization and Reactivity of a Series of Ruthenium N-triphosPh Complexes
Published on: April 10, 2015
Dual-Atomic Ruthenium Interdistance Mediated by Metal-Metal Multiple Bonds for Electrocatalytic Nitrate Reduction
Chuang Wu1, Bo Gao1, Wending Hu1
1Henan Institute of Advanced Technology, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450003, P. R. China.
None:
Electrocatalytic nitrate (NO3-) reduction offers an appealing approach for nitrate pollutant remediation and sustainable ammonia synthesis. As a typical weak field ligand, NO3- binds to the metal center weaker than most common anions, which is proposed to be a key bottleneck for efficient and selective electrocatalytic NO3- reduction. With the chelate effect and five-membered ring structure, bidentate bridging is considered to be an ideal mode to facilitate NO3- binding, which requires a dual-atomic site with appropriate metal-metal distance. By utilizing diruthenium complexes containing different Ru-Ru bonds as precursors, the Ru-Ru interdistance in diruthenium-based dual-atom catalysts (Ru2-DAC) is effectively tuned in this work. As a result, Ru2-DAC with an optimal Ru-Ru interdistance (Ru═Ru/DAC) exhibits remarkable electrocatalytic activity toward NO3- conversion to NH3 under neutral pH (yield: 3.48 mgNH3 h-1 mgcat-1, FE: 95% at -0.3 V vs RHE), far superior to the analogous catalyst with inappropriate Ru-Ru interdistance (Ru-Ru/DAC). The substantially enhanced electrocatalytic NO3- reduction induced by Ru-Ru interdistance modulation is theoretically attributed to the simultaneous enhancement of NO3- adsorption and *NO2 deoxygenation.
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