High-efficiency NO electroreduction to NH3 over honeycomb carbon nanofiber at ambient conditions

Ling Ouyang; Qiang Zhou; Jie Liang; Longcheng Zhang; Luchao Yue; Zerong Li; Jun Li; Yongsong Luo; Qian Liu; Na Li; Bo Tang; Abdulmohsen Ali Alshehri; Feng Gong; Xuping Sun

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2022.02.074

High-efficiency NO electroreduction to NH₃ over honeycomb carbon nanofiber at ambient conditions

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2022 Jun 15:616:261-267. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.02.074. Epub 2022 Feb 19.

Authors

Ling Ouyang¹, Qiang Zhou², Jie Liang¹, Longcheng Zhang¹, Luchao Yue¹, Zerong Li¹, Jun Li¹, Yongsong Luo¹, Qian Liu³, Na Li⁴, Bo Tang⁴, Abdulmohsen Ali Alshehri⁵, Feng Gong⁶, Xuping Sun⁷

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan 610054, China.
² Key Laboratory of Energy Thermal Conversion and Control of Ministry of Education, School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 211189, China.
³ Institute for Advanced Study, Chengdu University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610106, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁴ College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, Shandong 250014, China.
⁵ Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80203, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Key Laboratory of Energy Thermal Conversion and Control of Ministry of Education, School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 211189, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁷ Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan 610054, China; College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, Shandong 250014, China. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 35219191
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.02.074

Abstract

Electrocatalytic NO reduction is a promising technology for ambient NO removal with simultaneous production of highly value-added NH₃. Herein, we report that honeycomb carbon nanofiber coated on carbon paper acts as an efficient metal-free catalyst for ambient electroreduction of NO to NH₃. In 0.2 M Na₂SO₄ solution, such catalyst achieves an NH₃ yield of 22.35 μmol h^-1 cm^-2 with a high Faradaic efficiency of up to 88.33%. Impressively, it also shows excellent stability for 10-h continuous electrolysis. Theoretical calculations reveal that the most active center of functional groups is -OH group for NO reduction with a low energy barrier (ΔG of 0.29 eV) for the potential-determining step (*NO + H → *HNO).

Keywords: Ambient NH(3) synthesis; Density functional theory; Electrochemical NO reduction; Honeycomb carbon nanofiber.