Recently, Professor Jianhong Liu and Professor Qianling Zhang's team from the College of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering at Shenzhen University published the latest research progresses about the electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate for ammonia production on journal《Advanced Functional Materials》and《Science China Materials》.
Ammonia (NH3) is a crucial raw material in the chemical fertilizer and modern chemical industry, and its production has a significant impact on the national economy and overall national strength. On the other hand, ammonia is also a non-carbon energy carrier and can be used as an energy storage media and clean fuel, aligning with the national strategies of "carbon neutrality" and "peak carbon emissions." Additionally, due to its higher hydrogen storage density compared to liquid hydrogen (1.7 times higher), and its self-ignition point of 651.1 ℃, ammonia is considered a highly competitive "green hydrogen" storage and transportation carrier with superior safety properties compared to hydrogen. The nitrate reduction reaction (NO3-RR, NO3- + 6H2O + 8e- → NH3 + 9OH-) is one of the effective pathways for the production of "green ammonia", and the exploration of efficient catalysts is crucial for the industrial application of NO3-RR in ammonia production.
The review paper titled "Emerging Applications, Developments, Prospects, and Challenges of Electrochemical Nitrate-to-Ammonia Conversion", authored by Master's student Wenda Chen as the first author, with Dr. Shenghua Ye, Prof. Jianhong Liu, and Prof. Qianling Zhang as the corresponding authors, was published on《Advanced Functional Materials》 (IF: 19.924, JCR Engineering Technology Region 1, TOP Journal), Shenzhen University is listed as the first author's affiliation and the first corresponding institution.
This review extensively discusses the significance of the electrochemical nitrate-to-ammonia conversion in nitrogen cycling, "green ammonia" synthesis, and emerging energy applications. It provides in-depth insights into the catalytic mechanisms of NO3-RR as well as the synthesis of catalysts and strategies for tuning their catalytic performance. This review aims to offer new perspectives for the design of high-performance catalysts for NO3-RR-based ammonia synthesis.
See full text link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adfm.202300512
The research article titled "The Activity Origin of FeCo Prussian Blue Analogue for Ambient Electrochemical Hydrogenation of Nitrate into Ammonia in Neutral Electrolyte", authored by Dr. Shenghua Ye and Master's student Xiuyuan Yang as the first authors with Prof. Qianling Zhang as the corresponding authors, was published on《Science China Materials》 (IF: 8.640, JCR Engineering Technology Region 1, TOP Journal). Shenzhen University is listed as the first author's affiliation and the first corresponding institution.
This article reports on a carbon cloth-supported FeCo Prussian Blue analogue (PBA) layered cubic array (FeCo PBA HCAs) structure as an electrocatalyst for the nitrate reduction reaction (NO3-RR), and evaluates its ammonia production performance in a neutral phosphate buffer solution (PBS) electrolyte. The results demonstrate that FeCo PBA HCAs exhibit satisfactory ammonia production rates and Faradaic efficiencies. Electrochemical and in-situ spectroscopy results indicate the crucial role of cyanide groups in enhancing the catalytic activity, and the synergistic effect of cyanide groups is successfully explained using frontier orbital theory.
See full text link: https://www.sciengine.com/SCMs/doi/10.1007/s40843-023-2475-6
College of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering