Electron-Deficient Coo Induced Charge Redistribution on Cucoo-Nc Nanohybrid for Electrocatalytic Reduction of Nitrate to Ammonia

Abstract

Utilizing electrochemical tactic to reduce nitrate to value-add product ammonia has become the hot topic. Recently, the synergistic effect of metal/metal-oxide is provided to notably boost electrocatalytic performance of nitrate reduction contrasting with monometallic catalyst. In this work, reticulate fiber structure with Cu/CoO nanoparticle (CuxCoyO-NC) was fabricated for electrocatalytic nitrate reduction (NO3-RR) to ammonia. The optimized catalyst (Cu1Co1O-NC) displayed brilliant performance for NO3-RR with high Faraday efficiency (FE) of 97.9%, the excellent NH3 yield rate of 0.45 mmol h-1 cm-2, prominent NH3 selectivity of 98.4% and efficient NO3- conversion of 99.2% at -0.79 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). Besides, Cu1Co1O-NC also exhibits the potential for uranium recovery from simulated wastewater containing nitrate and uranyl ions with a total yield of 508 mg ammonium diuranate (nuclear fuel) after i-t measurement for 6 times. This work not only provides an efficient catalyst for reduction nitrate but also provide the sustainable method for uranium containing sewage realizing nitrogen cycle.

Keywords: Electrocatalyst, electroreduction, nitrate reduction