Issue 47, 2022

WO2 nanoparticles with oxygen vacancies: a high-efficiency electrocatalyst for the conversion of nitrite to ammonia

Abstract

Electrocatalytic reduction of nitrite (NO2) is considered an effective method to solve its environmental pollution issue as well as sustainable ammonia (NH3) synthesis under ambient conditions but still requires high-performance catalysts. Herein, self-supported monoclinic WO2 nanoparticles with abundant oxygen vacancies (OVs) on a tungsten plate (WO2/W) are demonstrated as a highly efficient electrocatalyst for selectively reducing NO2 to NH3. In 0.1 M NaOH solution containing 0.1 M NO2, such an electrocatalyst achieves an excellent yield of 14 964.25 ± 826.06 μg h−1 cm−2 and high faradaic efficiency (FE) of 94.32 ± 1.15% at −0.9 V. Remarkably, the assembled Zn–NO2 battery delivers a high power density of 5.05 mW cm−2 and simultaneously offers an abundant NH3 yield of 1923.88 μg h−1 cm−2. Theoretical calculations reveal the critical role of OVs for WO2 in the nitrite electrocatalytic reduction process and its possible reaction pathway.

Graphical abstract: WO2 nanoparticles with oxygen vacancies: a high-efficiency electrocatalyst for the conversion of nitrite to ammonia

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
25 sept. 2022
Accepted
11 nov. 2022
First published
11 nov. 2022

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2022,10, 24969-24974

WO2 nanoparticles with oxygen vacancies: a high-efficiency electrocatalyst for the conversion of nitrite to ammonia

H. Qiu, Q. Chen, X. An, Q. Liu, L. Xie, J. Zhang, W. Yao, Y. Luo, S. Sun, Q. Kong, J. Chen and X. Sun, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2022, 10, 24969 DOI: 10.1039/D2TA07523G

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