Durable Electrocatalytic Reduction of Nitrate to Ammonia over Defective Pseudobrookite Fe2TiO5 Nanofibers with Abundant Oxygen Vacancies

We propose the pseudobrookite Fe2TiO5 nanofiber with abundant oxygen vacancies as a new electrocatalyst to ambiently reduce nitrate to ammonia. Such catalyst achieves a large NH3 yield of 0.73 mmol h(-1) mg(cat.)(-1) and a high Faradaic Efficiency (FE) of 87.6 % in phosphate buffer saline solution with 0.1 M NaNO3, which is lifted to 1.36 mmol h(-1) mg(cat.)(-1) and 96.06 % at -0.9 V vs. RHE for nitrite conversion to ammonia in 0.1 M NaNO2. It also shows excellent electrochemical durability and structural stability. Theoretical calculation reveals the enhanced conductivity of this catalyst and an extremely low free energy of -0.28 eV for nitrate adsorption at the presence of vacant oxygen.

Automated summary

In this study, we propose the pseudobrookite Fe2TiO5 nanofiber with abundant oxygen vacancies as a new electrocatalyst for the reduction of nitrate to ammonia. The catalyst exhibited high NH3 yield and Faradaic Efficiency, as well as excellent electrochemical durability and structural stability.