Ni, Jiaqi, Yan, Jing, Tao, Ying, Ding, Jie, Chachvalvutikul, Auttaphon, Akdim, Ouardia, Liu, Lingyue, Huang, Shanshan, Wang, Weixu, Sun, Hongli, Qi, Haifeng, Su, Chenliang and Liu, Bin
2026.
Dynamically forming a Cu3Mo2O9/Cu heterojunction for efficient nitrate reduction in Zn–nitrate batteries.
Energy & Environmental Science
19
(2)
, pp. 718-729.
10.1039/d5ee05927e
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Abstract
The sustainable production of ammonia (NH3) via the electrochemical nitrate reduction reaction (NO3−RR) presents a dual solution for environmental remediation and renewable energy storage. However, this process is hindered by the sluggish kinetics of the sequential deoxygenation and hydrogenation steps, particularly under alkaline conditions, where proton scarcity exacerbates the competing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). In this study, heterostructured Cu3Mo2O9/Cu is purposely designed so that it can be reductively formed during the NO3−RR to incorporate the advantages of dual-function active sites in the processes of water dissociation and nitrate reduction. Experimental and theoretical results indicate that the in situ generated Cu3Mo2O9 is proposed to facilitate H2O dissociation and likely contribute to proton (H+) supply, while metallic Cu enhances nitrate adsorption and facilitates subsequent deoxygenation. The Cu3Mo2O9/Cu catalyst achieves an excellent NH3 faradaic efficiency (FE) of 97.5% at −0.5 V vs. RHE with an NH3 yield rate of 19.3 mg h−1 mgcat−1 in 0.05 M KNO3. This performance is among the highest under neutral/alkaline H-cell conditions. The Cu3Mo2O9/Cu-based Zn–nitrate battery delivers a peak power density of 20.24 mW cm−2 and maintains an FENH3 of 93.8% at 60 mA cm−2. This study elucidates the dynamic synergy of heterostructured catalysts for multi-step reactions and establishes a general framework for coupling catalytic nitrate conversion with energy storage applications.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Date Type: | Publication |
| Status: | Published |
| Schools: | Schools > Chemistry Research Institutes & Centres > Cardiff Catalysis Institute (CCI) |
| Additional Information: | RRS policy applied |
| Publisher: | Royal Society of Chemistry |
| ISSN: | 1754-5692 |
| Date of First Compliant Deposit: | 19 February 2026 |
| Date of Acceptance: | 1 December 2025 |
| Last Modified: | 19 Feb 2026 10:15 |
| URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/183816 |
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