Crystalline modulation of zirconia for efficient nitrate reduction to ammonia under ambient conditions.

Zirconia as a polycrystalline catalyst can be effectively tuned by doping low-valence elements and meanwhile form abundant oxygen vacancies. Herein, the crystalline structures of zirconia are modulated by scandium doping and proposed as a robust catalyst for nitrate reduction to ammonia. The tetragonal zirconia achieves a maximum ammonia yield of 16.

CoO nanoparticles embedded in porous carbon nanofibers enable efficient nitrate reduction to ammonia.

The nitrate reduction reaction is emerging as having tremendous potential to mitigate nitrate pollution and simultaneously produce valuable ammonia. Here, we propose CoO nanoparticles embedded in porous carbon nanofibers (CoO@CNF) as a high-efficiency catalyst to convert nitrate to ammonia, and it achieves a high faradaic efficiency of 92.7% and an extremely large NH yield of 23.

Iron-Doped MoO Nanosheets for Boosting Nitrogen Fixation to Ammonia at Ambient Conditions.

Nitrogen can be electrochemically reduced to produce ammonia, which supplies an energy-saving and environmental-benign route at room temperature, but high-efficiency catalysts are sought to reduce the reaction barrier. Here, iron-doped α-MoO nanosheets are thus designed and proposed as potential catalysts for fixing N to NH. The α-MoO band structure is intentionally modulated by the iron doping, which narrows the band gap of α-MoO and turns the semiconductor into a metal-like catalyst.

Bioinspired Electrocatalyst for Electrochemical Reduction of N to NH in Ambient Conditions.

Industrial ammonia production depends heavily on the traditional Haber-Bosch method at the expense of CO emissions and large energy consumptions. Artificial fixation of nitrogen to ammonia is therefore regarded as a promising path to yield ammonia in energy-saving conditions. However, a competent electrocatalyst is highly desired, owing to the extremely stable bond of N≡N.