Facile Synthesis of a CuMoO Nanosheet Array for Electrochemical Reduction of Nitrite to Ammonia in Neutral Solution.

Electrochemical nitrite (NO) is a promising technology for NO removal and a sustainable method for generating valuable ammonia (NH), but this process is intricate and generates other byproducts. In this work, we propose a facile and low-cost method for the preparation of a CuMoO nanosheet array, which can serve as an efficient electrocatalyst for the reduction of NO to NH. The morphology of CuMoO can be adjusted by controlling the synthesis conditions. In neutral solution, CuMoO achieves a high NH yield of 30.46 mg h cm and an outstanding faradaic efficiency of 98.6% with excellent long-term electrochemical stability for NO reduction. Density functional theory calculations further reveal the key role of the CuMoO (202) surface and its possible reaction pathways in the electrocatalytic reduction of nitrite.