Electrocatalytic Reduction of Nitrate on a Pt Electrode Modified by p-Block Metal Adatoms in Acid Solution

Contrasting Capability of Single Atom Palladium for Thermocatalytic versus Electrocatalytic Nitrate Reduction Reaction

The occurrence of high concentrations of nitrate in various water resources is a significant environmental and human health threat, demanding effective removal technologies. Single atom alloys (SAAs) have emerged as a promising bimetallic material architecture in various thermocatalytic and electrocatalytic schemes including nitrate reduction reaction (NRR). This study suggests that there exists a stark contrast between thermocatalytic (T-NRR) and electrocatalytic (E-NRR) pathways that resulted in dramatic differences in SAA performances. Among Pd/Cu nanoalloys with varying Pd-Cu ratios from 1:100 to 100:1, Pd/Cu(1:100) SAA exhibited the greatest activity (TOFPd = 2 min-1) and highest N2 selectivity (94%) for E-NRR, while the same SAA performed poorly for T-NRR as compared to other nanoalloy counterparts. DFT calculations demonstrate that the improved performance and N2 selectivity of Pd/Cu(1:100) in E-NRR compared to T-NRR originate from the higher stability of NO3* in electrocatalysis and a lower N2 formation barrier than NH due to localized pH effects and the ability to extract protons from water. This study establishes the performance and mechanistic differences of SAA and nanoalloys for T-NRR versus E-NRR.

Iron-Based Nanocatalysts for Electrochemical Nitrate Reduction

Nitrate has a high level of stability and persistence in water, endangering human health and aquatic ecosystems. Due to its high reliability and efficiency, the electrochemical nitrate reduction reaction (NO₃ RR) is regarded as the best available option for mitigating excess nitrate in water and wastewater, especially for the removal of trace levels of nitrate. One of the most critical factors in the electrochemical reduction are the catalysts, which directly affect the reaction efficiency of nitrate removal. Iron-based nanocatalysts, which have the advantages of nontoxicity, wide availability, and low cost, have emerged as a promising electrochemical NO₃ RR material in recent years. This review covers major aspects of iron-based nanocatalysts for electrochemical NO₃ RR, including synthetic methods, structural design, performance enhancement, electrocatalytic nitrate reduction test, and reduction mechanism. The recent progress of iron-based nanocatalysts for electrochemical NO₃ RR and the mechanism of functional advantages for modified structures are reviewed from the perspectives of loading, doping, and assembly strategies, in order to realize the conversion from pollutant nitrate to harmless nitrogen or ammonia and other sustainable products. Finally, challenges and future directions for the development of low-cost and highly-efficient iron-based nanocatalysts are explored.

Electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate - a step towards a sustainable nitrogen cycle

Nitrate enrichment, which is mainly caused by the over-utilization of fertilisers and industrial sewage discharge, is a major global engineering challenge because of its negative influence on the environment and human health. To solve this serious problem, many technologies, such as the activated sludge method, reverse osmosis, ion exchange, adsorption, and electrodialysis, have been developed to reduce the nitrate levels in water bodies. However, the applications of these traditional techniques are limited by several drawbacks, such as a long sludge retention time, slow kinetics, and undesirable by-products. From an environmental perspective, the most promising nitrate reduction technology is enabled to convert nitrate into benign N₂, and features low cost, high efficiency, and environmental friendliness. Recently, electrocatalytic nitrate reduction has been proven by satisfactory research achievements to be one of the most promising methods among these technologies. This review provides a comprehensive account of nitrate reduction using electrocatalysis methods. The fundamentals of electrocatalytic nitrate reduction, including the reaction mechanisms, reactor design principles, product detection methods, and performance evaluation methods, have been systematically summarised. A detailed introduction to electrocatalytic nitrate reduction on transition metals, especially noble metals and alloys, Cu-based electrocatalysts, and Fe-based electrocatalysts is provided, as they are essential for the accurate reporting of experimental results. The current challenges and potential opportunities in this field, including the innovation of material design systems, value-added product yields, and challenges for products beyond N₂ and large-scale sewage treatment, are highlighted.

N-Doped Graphene as an Efficient Metal-Free Electrocatalyst for Indirect Nitrate Reduction Reaction

N-doped graphene samples with different N species contents were prepared by a two-step synthesis method and evaluated as electrocatalysts for the nitrate reduction reaction (NORR) for the first time. In an acidic solution with a saturated calomel electrode as reference, the pyridinic-N dominant sample (NGR2) had an onset of 0.932 V and a half-wave potential of 0.833 V, showing the superior activity towards the NORR compared to the pyrrolic-N dominant N-doped graphene (onset potential: 0.850 V, half-wave potential: 0.732 V) and the pure graphene (onset potential: 0.698 V, half-wave potential: 0.506 V). N doping could significantly boost the NORR performance of N-doped graphene, especially the contribution of pyridinic-N. Density functional theory calculation revealed the pyridinic-N facilitated the desorption of NO, which was kinetically involved in the process of the NORR. The findings of this work would be valuable for the development of metal-free NORR electrocatalysts.

Advances in Electrochemical Ammonia Synthesis Beyond the Use of Nitrogen Gas as a Source

Electrocatalytic reduction of dinitrogen has emerged as a new strategy for ammonia synthesis. Despite being environmentally benign and energy-saving, it suffers from low conversion efficiency and short yield of ammonia because of the challenges of activating the inert N≡N bond at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. As a result of this, researchers proposed to reduce the nitrogenous species, one category of air and water pollutants, into valuable ammonia. Although remaining largely underexplored, this alternative approach shows promising efficiency for ammonia synthesis, while achieving high catalytic activity and selectivity remains challenging. In this Minireview, we summarize recent electrocatalytic performances of denitrification with selective formation to ammonia in terms of proposed active sites and reaction mechanisms. Additionally, we discuss the common issues in the state-of-the-art experimental tests and highlight the breakthroughs via computational screening of electrode materials. The aim of this is to steer the future research directions in the field, which is aiming for an optimal catalytic system with higher activity and selectivity for electrocatalytic denitrification.

Chemical Etching of Silicon Assisted by Graphene Oxide in an HF-HNO3 Solution and Its Catalytic Mechanism

Chemical etching of silicon assisted by various types of carbon materials is drawing much attention for the fabrication of silicon micro/nanostructures. We developed a method of chemical etching of silicon that utilizes graphene oxide (GO) sheets to promote the etching reaction in a hydrofluoric acid-nitric acid (HF-HNO3) etchant. By using an optimized composition of the HF-HNO3 etchant, the etching rate under the GO sheets was 100 times faster than that of our HF-H2O2 system used in a previous report. Kinetic analyses showed that the activation energy of the etching reaction was almost the same at both the bare silicon and GO-covered areas. We propose that adsorption sites for the reactant in the GO sheets enhance the reaction frequency, leading to a deeper etching in the GO areas than the bare areas. Furthermore, GO sheets with more defects were found to have higher catalytic activities. This suggests that defects in the GO sheets function as adsorption sites for the reactant, thereby enhancing the etching rate under the sheets.

Surface-Enhanced Infrared Absorption Spectroscopy of Bacterial Nitric Oxide Reductase under Electrochemical Control Using a Vibrational Probe of Carbon Monoxide

Nitric oxide reductases (NORs) reduce nitric oxide to nitrous oxide in the denitrification pathway of the global nitrogen cycle. NORs contain four iron cofactors and the NO reduction occurs at the heme b₃/nonheme Fe_B binuclear active site. The determination of reduction potentials of the iron cofactors will help us elucidate the enzymatic reaction mechanism. However, previous reports on these potentials remain controversial. Herein, we performed electrochemical and surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) spectroscopic measurements of Pseudomonas aeruginosa NOR immobilized on gold electrodes. Cyclic voltammograms exhibited two reduction peaks at -0.11 and -0.44 V vs SHE, and a SEIRA spectrum using a vibrational probe of CO showed a characteristic band at 1972 cm^-1 at -0.4 V vs SHE, which was assigned to νCO of heme b₃-CO. Our results suggest that the reduction of heme b₃ initiates the enzymatic NO reduction.

Boron-doped graphene as a promising electrocatalyst for NO electrochemical reduction: a computational study

The B-doped graphene is a quite promising metal free electrocatalyst for NO reduction to N₂O and NH₃.

Octahedral Ni-nanocluster (Ni85) for Efficient and Selective Reduction of Nitric Oxide (NO) to Nitrogen (N2)

Nitric oxide (NO) reduction pathways are systematically studied on a (111) facet of the octahedral nickel (Ni85) nanocluster in the presence/absence of hydrogen. Thermodynamic (reaction free energies) and kinetic (free energy barriers, and temperature dependent reaction rates) parameters are investigated to find out the most favoured reduction pathway for NO reduction. The catalytic activity of the Ni-nanocluster is investigated in greater detail toward the product selectivity (N2 vs. N2O vs. NH3). The previous theoretical (catalyzed by Pt, Pd, Rh and Ir) and experimental reports (catalyzed by Pt, Ag, Pd) show that direct N-O bond dissociation is very much unlikely due to the high-energy barrier but our study shows that the reaction is thermodynamically and kinetically favourable when catalysed by the octahedral Ni-nanocluster. The catalytic activity of the Ni-nanocluster toward NO reduction reaction is very much efficient and selective toward N2 formation even in the presence of hydrogen. However, N2O (one of the major by-products) formation is very much unlikely due to the high activation barrier. Our microkinetic analysis shows that even at high hydrogen partial pressures, the catalyst is very much selective toward N2 formation over NH3.

Understanding Adsorption-Induced Effects on Platinum Nanoparticles: An Energy-Decomposition Analysis

Platinum nanoparticle catalysts are used in a myriad of gas-phase, liquid-phase, and electrochemical reactions. Although a high catalytic activity is paramount, stability must also be guaranteed, especially when the nanoparticles are in contact with strongly bound adsorbates. Therefore, it is crucial to be able to accurately calculate adsorption-energy trends on Pt nanoparticles of multiple sizes and morphologies using ab initio methods at affordable computational expenses. Here, through an energy-decomposition analysis in which adsorption processes are regarded as the interplay between pure binding and various compensating core-shell deformations, we show that pure binding is responsible for the overall linear adsorption trends. Conversely, the energetic cost of the deformations is a site-independent, adsorbate-dependent constant value. These two observations and the description of the trends by means of generalized coordination numbers help to significantly reduce the computational expense of simulating large nanoparticles.

Combining voltammetry and ion chromatography: application to the selective reduction of nitrate on Pt and PtSn electrodes

To overcome the shortcomings of electroanalytical methods in analyzing the ionic reaction products that are either electrochemically inert or lack distinct electrochemical/spectroscopic fingerprints, we suggest combining voltammetry with ion chromatography by applying online sample collection to the electrochemical cell and offline ion chromatographic analysis. This combination allows a quantitative analysis including the potential dependence of the product distribution in a straightforward way. As a proof-of-concept example, we discuss the formation of ionic reaction products from nitrate reduction on Pt and Sn-modified Pt electrode in acid. On the Pt electrode, ammonia was the only identifiable product. After Sn modification of the Pt electrode, a change in selectivity was observed to hydroxylamine as the dominant product. Moreover, the rate determining step of nitrate reduction (reduction to nitrite) was enhanced by Sn modification of the Pt electrode, and a significant concentration of nitrite was evidenced on a Pt electrode with a high coverage of Sn species. The suggested combination of voltammetry and online ion chromatography hence proves very useful in the quantitative elucidation of electrocatalytic reactions with different ionic products.