Promoting defect formation and inhibiting hydrogen evolution by S-doping NiFe layered double hydroxide for electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate to ammonia.

Activation of HO cleavage for H* production by defect engineering eliminates the insufficient supply of protons in the NORR process under neutral conditions. However, it remains challenging to precisely control the defect formation for optimizing the equilibrium between H* production and H* binding. Here, we propose a strategy to boost defect generation through S-doping induced NiFe-LDH lattice distortion, and successfully optimize the balance of H* production and binding.