Electrocatalytic nitrate-to-ammonia conversion on CoO/CuO nanoarrays using Zn–nitrate batteries

• DOI: 10.1039/d3nr05254k
• Publication Date: 2023-11-15T07:22:22Z
• Authors: Shanshan Chen; Gaocan Qi; Ruilian Yin; Qian Liu; Ligang Feng; Xincai Feng; Guangzhi Hu; Jun Luo; Xijun Liu; Wenxian Liu

Zn-NO3- batteries can generate electricity while producing NH3 in an environmentally friendly manner, making them a very promising device. However, the conversion of NO3- to involves proton-assisted 8-electron (8e-) transfer process with high kinetic barrier, requiring high-performance catalysts realize potential applications this technology. Herein, we propose heterostructured CoO/CuO nanoarray electrocatalyst prepared on copper foam (CoO/CuO-NA/CF) that electrocatalytically and efficiently convert at low achieves maximum yield 296.9 μmol h-1 cm-2 Faraday efficiency (FE) 92.9% -0.2 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). Impressively, battery based monolithic CoO/CuO-NA/CF delivers 60.3 cm-2, FENH3 82.0%, power density 4.3 mW cm-2. This study provides paradigm for catalyst preparation energy-efficient production simultaneously generating electrical energy.