Cu nanoparticles decorated juncus-derived carbon for efficient electrocatalytic nitrite-to-ammonia conversion.

Cu nanoparticles decorated juncus-derived carbon performs efficiently for electrocatalytic NH 3 production via NO 2 – reduction reaction, capable of achieving a high Faradaic efficiency of 93.2% and a large NH 3 yield of 523.5 μmol h−1 mg cat. −1. [Display omitted] Electrocatalytic nitrite reduction to value-added NH 3 can simultaneously achieve sustainable ammonia production and N -contaminant removal in natural environments, which has attracted widespread attention but still lacks efficient catalysts. In this work, Cu nanoparticles decorated juncus-derived carbon can be proposed as a high-active electrocatalyst for NO 2 −-to-NH 3 conversion, obtaining a high Faradaic efficiency of 93.2% and a satisfactory NH 3 yield of 523.5 μmol h−1 mg cat. −1. Density functional theory calculations were applied to uncover insightful understanding of internal catalytic mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]