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Electrochemically and Bioelectrochemically Induced Ammonium Recovery
Published on: January 22, 2015
In Situ Dynamic Reconstruction Asymmetric P─Co─O/OH Sites for Sustainable Gram-Level Electrocatalytic Ammonia
Zhe Meng1, Xue-Feng Sun1, Guo-Feng Qiu1
1Key Laboratory of Automobile Materials, Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, China.
Abstract:
The electrochemical conversion of nitrite/nitrate (NOx -) to ammonia (NH3) offers a sustainable route for NH3 production, particularly coupled with efficient air plasma. However, balancing catalyst activity/stability for gram-level NH3 production remains major challenges. In this study, we report a low-crystallinity phosphorus-doped cobalt electrode (P─Co/NF) for efficient and stable NH3 synthesis via NO2 - reduction, achieving an impressive NH3 yield rate of 414.51 mg h-1 cm-2 and outstanding long-term stability of 1000 h. Comprehensive characterizations and theoretical calculations reveal that the dynamically evolved P─Co/Co(OH)2 heterostructure with asymmetric P─Co─O/OH active sites simultaneously optimizes NO2 - activation and water dissociation. The synergistic interplay between P─Co and Co(OH)2 layer facilitates sufficient *H supply and moderate intermediate adsorption, thereby suppressing H2 evolution. To enable direct air-to-NH3 conversion, a complete system is established by integrating electrocatalysis with microwave plasma and intermittent solar power, achieving an average NH3 yield of 1.19 g per day with Faradaic efficiency >90%. When scaled up to a 100 cm2 flow cell, the system delivers an NH3 production rate of 4.97 g h-1. This work provides a paradigm for designing dynamic asymmetric sites that overcome activity-stability tradeoff under industrial-level current density, paving the way toward the decentralized and sustainable NH3 production.

