Unveiling the Dual Role of Oxophilic Cr4+ in Cr−Cu2O Nanosheet Arrays for Enhanced Nitrate Electroreduction to Ammonia.

Cuprous oxide (Cu2O)‐based catalysts present a promising activity for the electrochemical nitrate (NO3−) reduction to ammonia (eNO3RA), but the electrochemical instability of Cu+ species may lead to an unsatisfactory durability, hindering the exploration of the structure‐performance relationship. Herein, we propose an efficient strategy to stabilize Cu+ through the incorporation of Cr4+ into the Cu2O matrix to construct a Cr4+−O−Cu+ network structure. In situ and quasi‐in situ characterizations reveal that the Cu+ species are well maintained via the strong Cr4+−O−Cu+ interaction that inhibits the leaching of lattice oxygen. Importantly, in situ generated Cr3+−O−Cu+ from Cr4+−O−Cu+ is identified as a dual‐active site for eNO3RA, wherein the Cu+ sites are responsible for the activation of N‐containing intermediates, while the assisting Cr3+ centers serve as the electron‐proton mediators for rapid water dissociation. Theoretical investigations further demonstrated that the metastable state Cr3+−O−Cu+ favors the conversion from the endoergic hydrogenation of the key *ON intermediate to an exoergic reaction in an ONH pathway, and facilitates the subsequent NH3 desorption with a low energy barrier. The superior eNO3RA with a maximum 91.6 % Faradaic efficiency could also be coupled with anodic sulfion oxidation to achieve concurrent NH3 production and sulfur recovery with reduced energy input. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]