Ni nanoparticle-decorated biomass carbon for efficient electrocatalytic nitrite reduction to ammonia

Abstract

Electrocatalytic nitrite (NO2−) reduction to ammonia (NH3) can not only synthesize value-added NH3, but also remove NO2− pollutants from the environment. However, the low efficiency of NO2−-to-NH3 conversion hinders its applications. Here, Ni nanoparticle-decorated juncus-derived biomass carbon prepared at 800 °C (Ni@JBC-800) serves as an efficient catalyst for NH3 synthesis by selective electroreduction of NO2−. This catalyst shows a remarkable NH3 yield of 4117.3 μg h−1 mgcat.−1 and a large faradaic efficiency of 83.4% in an alkaline electrolyte. The catalytic mechanism is further investigated by theoretical calculations.