Cu nanoparticles decorated juncus-derived carbon for efficient electrocatalytic nitrite-to-ammonia conversion

Electrocatalytic nitrite reduction to value-added NH3 can simultaneously achieve sustainable ammonia production and N-contaminant removal in natural environments, which has attracted widespread attention but still lacks efficient catalysts. In this work, Cu nanoparticles decorated juncus-derived carbon can be proposed as a high-active electrocatalyst for NO2--to-NH3 conversion, obtaining a high Faradaic efficiency of 93.2% and a satisfactory NH3 yield of 523.5 lmol h-1 mgcat.-1 . Density functional theory calculations were applied to uncover insightful understanding of internal catalytic mechanism. (c) 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This work proposes a high-active catalyst, Cu nanoparticles decorated juncus-derived carbon, for the conversion of nitrite to ammonia, achieving high Faradaic efficiency and satisfactory yield. The study also provides insightful understanding of the internal catalytic mechanism through computational calculations.