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Research Article

In situ grown Fe3O4 particle on stainless steel: A highly efficient electrocatalyst for nitrate reduction to ammonia

Xiaoya Fan1Lisi Xie2Jie Liang1Yuchun Ren1Longcheng Zhang1Luchao Yue1Tingshuai Li1Yonglan Luo2Na Li3Bo Tang3Yang Liu4Shuyan Gao4Abdulmohsen Ali Alshehri5Qian Liu2( )Qingquan Kong2( )Xuping Sun1( )
Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, China
Institute for Advanced Study, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China
College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Shandong Normal University, Jinan 250014, China
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China
Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80203, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
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Graphical Abstract

In situ grown Fe3O4 particle on stainless steel (Fe3O4/SS) enables ambient electrosynthesis of NH3 via efficient nitrate reduction, achieving a remarkably high Faradaic efficiency of 91.5% and a large yield of 10,145 μg· h–1·cm–2 in 0.1 M NaOH with 0.1 M NaNO3.

Abstract

NH3 is an essential feedstock for fertilizer synthesis. Industry-scale NH3 synthesis mostly relies on the Haber–Bosch method, however, which suffers from massive CO2 emission and high energy consumption. Electrocatalytic NO3 reduction is an attractive substitute to the Haber–Bosch method for synthesizing NH3 under mild conditions. As this reaction will produce a variety of products, it highly desires efficient and selective electrocatalyst for NH3 generation. Here, we report in situ grown Fe3O4 particle on stainless steel (Fe3O4/SS) as a high-efficiency electrocatalyst for NO3 reduction to NH3. In 0.1 M NaOH with 0.1 M NaNO3, such Fe3O4/SS reaches a remarkable Faradaic efficiency of 91.5% and a high NH3 yield of 10,145 μg·h–1·cm–2 at –0.5 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). Furthermore, it owns robust structural and electrochemical stability. This work provides useful guidelines to expand the scope of metallic oxide electrocatalysts for NH3 synthesis. The catalytic mechanism is uncovered and discussed further by theoretical calculations.

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Nano Research
Pages 3050-3055
Cite this article:
Fan X, Xie L, Liang J, et al. In situ grown Fe3O4 particle on stainless steel: A highly efficient electrocatalyst for nitrate reduction to ammonia. Nano Research, 2022, 15(4): 3050-3055. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3951-5
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Received: 11 September 2021
Revised: 19 October 2021
Accepted: 22 October 2021
Published: 20 December 2021
© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021
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