Laser-controlled tandem catalytic sites of CuNi alloys with ampere-level electrocatalytic nitrate-to-ammonia reduction activities for Zn-nitrate batteries

The clean production of electric energy and ammonia (NH 3 ) is an inevitable requirement of modern industrial development. In this work, we synthesized CuNi alloy nanoparticles on a Cu foil (CuNi NPs/CF) by a facile and fast laser irradiation method as the integral cathode for efficient electrocatal...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energy & environmental science 2023-07, Vol.16 (7), p.2991-31
Main Authors: Yu, Wanqiang, Yu, Jiayuan, Huang, Man, Wang, Yujie, Wang, Yijie, Li, Jiawei, Liu, Hong, Zhou, Weijia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Active sites
Alloys
Ammonia
Bimetals
Cathodes
Chemical reduction
Clean energy
Copper
Energy output
Industrial development
Intermetallic compounds
Irradiation
Metal foils
Nanoalloys
Nanoparticles
Nitrates
Tandem configuration
Zinc
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The clean production of electric energy and ammonia (NH 3 ) is an inevitable requirement of modern industrial development. In this work, we synthesized CuNi alloy nanoparticles on a Cu foil (CuNi NPs/CF) by a facile and fast laser irradiation method as the integral cathode for efficient electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate (NO 3 − ) into NH 3 (NIRR). As a result, the obtained CuNi NPs/CF with tandem catalytic sites exhibits ampere-level NIRR performance with the highest NH 3 yield rate of 94.57 mg h −1 cm −2 and a faradaic efficiency (FE) of ∼97.03% at −0.48 V vs. RHE, along with good stability in an ultrahigh NO 3 − concentration of 44.3 g L −1 . The tandem configuration of the optimized NO 3 − binding energy on Cu and sufficient active hydrogen on Ni sites are vital for the NIRR. Furthermore, benefiting from the high NIRR activity, a galvanic Zn-NO 3 − battery with the highest reported power density of 70.7 mW cm −2 was constructed with the CuNi NPs/CF as the cathode. This work not only reveals the catalytic mechanism of bimetallic alloys for NO 3 − reduction but also realizes an efficient Zn-NO 3 − battery for NH 3 synthesis and electric energy output. Laser-constructed CuNi alloy electrodes with tandem sites of Ni provide H* and Cu for NO 3 − reduction, achieving ampere-level NO 3 − reduction and high-performance Zn-NO 3 − batteries.
ISSN:1754-5692
1754-5706
DOI:10.1039/d3ee01301d