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Wu X, Nazemi M, Gupta S, Chismar A, Hong K, Jacobs H, Zhang W, Rigby K, Hedtke T, Wang Q, Stavitski E, Wong MS, Muhich C, Kim JH. Contrasting Capability of Single Atom Palladium for Thermocatalytic versus Electrocatalytic Nitrate Reduction Reaction. ACS Catal 2023; 13:6804-6812. [PMID: 37234352 PMCID: PMC10208376 DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.3c01285] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2023] [Revised: 04/13/2023] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xuanhao Wu
- Department
of Environmental Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
- Department
of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, United States
| | - Mohammadreza Nazemi
- Department
of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, United States
| | - Srishti Gupta
- School
for the Engineering of Matter, Transport, and Energy, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, United States
| | - Adam Chismar
- School
for the Engineering of Matter, Transport, and Energy, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, United States
| | - Kiheon Hong
- Department
of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States
| | - Hunter Jacobs
- Department
of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States
| | - Wenqing Zhang
- Department
of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States
| | - Kali Rigby
- Department
of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, United States
| | - Tayler Hedtke
- Department
of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, United States
| | - Qingxiao Wang
- Imaging
and Characterization Core Lab, King Abdullah
University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
| | - Eli Stavitski
- National
Synchrotron Light Source II, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, United States
| | - Michael S. Wong
- Department
of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States
| | - Christopher Muhich
- School
for the Engineering of Matter, Transport, and Energy, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, United States
| | - Jae-Hong Kim
- Department
of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, United States
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Gupta S, Chismar A, Muhich C. Understanding the Effect of Single Atom Cationic Defect Sites in an Al2O3 (012) Surface on Altering Selenate and Sulfate Adsorption: An Ab Initio Study. J Phys Chem C Nanomater Interfaces 2023; 127:6925-6937. [PMID: 37521103 PMCID: PMC10373637 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.3c00098] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/01/2023]
Abstract
Adsorption is a promising under-the-sink selenate remediation technique for distributed water systems. Recently it was shown that adsorption induced water network re-arraignment control adsorption energetics on the α - Al 2 O 3 (012) surface. Here, we aim to elucidate the relative importance of the water network effects and surface cation identity on controlling selenate and sulfate adsorption energy using density functional theory calculations. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations predicted the adsorption energies of selenate and sulfate on nine transition metal cations (Sc-Cu) and two alkali metal cations (Ga and In) in the α - Al 2 O 3 (012) surface under simulated acidic and neutral pH conditions. We find that the water network effects had larger impact on the adsorption energy than the cationic identity. However, cation identity secondarily controlled adsorption. Most cations decreased the adsorption energy weakening the overall performance, the larger Sc and In cations enabled inner-sphere adsorption in acidic conditions because they relaxed outward from the surface providing more space for adsorption. Additionally, only Ti induced Se selectivity over S by reducing the adsorbing selenate to selenite but not reducing the sulfate. Overall, this study indicates that tuning water network structure will likely have a larger impact than tuning cation-selenate interactions for increasing adsorbate effectiveness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Srishti Gupta
- Chemical Engineering Program, School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85281, USA
| | - Adam Chismar
- Chemical Engineering Program, School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85281, USA
| | - Christopher Muhich
- Chemical Engineering Program, School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85281, USA
- Materials Science and Engineering Program, School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85281, USA
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