Interfacial engineering of Cu-Fe2O3 nanotube arrays with built-in electric field and oxygen vacancies for boosting the electrocatalytic reduction of nitrates

13Citations
Citations of this article
11Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

Abstract

The key to enhancing electrocatalytic nitrate reduction to ammonium (ENRA) is to improve the slow mass transfer of nitrates and the effective electron transfer on the catalyst surface. Based on the thermal diffusion theory and electroreduction mechanism, a Cu-Fe2O3 nanotube electrocatalyst with enriched oxygen vacancies and a built-in electric field was designed by controlling the heating and electroreduction time. Because of its unique structure, it could induce the generation of a built-in electric field and promote the enrichment of nitrate ions and electron transfer on the catalyst surface. Combined with the oxygen vacancy (OV)-anchoring mechanism, Cu-Fe2O3-60 showed remarkable Faraday efficiency (80.1%) and selectivity (88.47%). In addition, even when the reactor was scaled up to a pilot capacity of 180 L, the conversion rate was close to 85%. This work demonstrates that controlling the staggered interface distribution and oxygen vacancy number in metal-semiconductor is an effective way to design high-efficiency electrocatalysts.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Gao, Y., Huang, K., Yan, C., Li, S., Zhang, H., Cheng, L., & Huang, F. (2022). Interfacial engineering of Cu-Fe2O3 nanotube arrays with built-in electric field and oxygen vacancies for boosting the electrocatalytic reduction of nitrates. Materials Advances, 3(18), 7107–7115. https://doi.org/10.1039/d2ma00685e

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free