Nickel Enhances InPd-Catalyzed Nitrate Reduction Activity and N₂ Selectivity

Palladium–indium (PdIn) is a well-established bimetallic composition for reductively degrading nitrate anions, one of the most ubiquitous contaminants in the groundwater. However, the scarcity and the variable price of these rare-earth and platinum group critical metals may hinder their use for water treatment. Nickel (Ni), a nonprecious metal in the same element group as Pd, could partially replace and lower Pd usage if the resulting trimetallic composition is sufficiently catalytically active. Herein, we report the synthesis and nitrate reduction catalysis of activated carbon-supported “In-on-Pd-on-Ni” catalysts (InPdNi/AC). While bimetallic InPd/AC (0.05 wt % In, 1.3 wt % Pd) was expectedly active, trimetallic InPdNi/AC containing the same In amount, much less Pd (0.1 wt %), and 1 wt % Ni was >17 more active (kcat ≈ 20 vs 349 L min–1 gsurface metal–1). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations showed that Pd gained electron density from Ni, correlating to the increased nitrate reduction activity. Ammonium byproduct selectivity for InPdNi/AC (18% at 50% nitrate conversion) was lower compared to that of InPd/AC (48%), suggestive of the higher surface coverage of NO or its greater reactivity with NO2–, which led to more N2. Accounting for the catalyst precursor, manufacturing costs, and spent metal recovery, we calculated that Ni incorporation lowered the net catalyst cost significantly (from $1028/kg to $170/kg). The trimetallic composition lowered, by ∼26 times, the catalyst cost of a stirred tank reactor sized to the same treatment capacity as that for the bimetallic case. The results demonstrate that the partial replacement of the precious metal with an earth-abundant one leads to a higher efficiency and lower cost denitrification catalyst, via a material strategy that should be beneficial for other clean-water catalytic systems.