General synthesis of high-entropy single-atom nanocages for electrosynthesis of ammonia from nitrate.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 39138150.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-51112-3 and PMC identifier 11322612.
- Licence recorded as CC BY-NC-ND.
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Abstract
Given the growing emphasis on energy efficiency, environmental sustainability, and agricultural demand, there's a pressing need for decentralized and scalable ammonia production. Converting nitrate ions electrochemically, which are commonly found in industrial wastewater and polluted groundwater, into ammonia offers a viable approach for both wastewater treatment and ammonia production yet limited by low producibility and scalability. Here we report a versatile and scalable solution-phase synthesis of high-entropy single-atom nanocages (HESA NCs) in which Fe and other five metals-Co, Cu, Zn, Cd, and In-are isolated via cyano-bridges and coordinated with C and N, respectively. Incorporating and isolating the five metals into the matrix of Fe resulted in Fe-C<sub>5</sub> active sites with a minimized symmetry of lattice as well as facilitated water dissociation and thus hydrogenation process. As a result, the Fe-HESA NCs exhibited a high selectivity toward NH<sub>3</sub> from the electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate with a Faradaic efficiency of 93.4% while maintaining a high yield rate of 81.4 mg h<sup>-1</sup> mg<sup>-1</sup>.