Electrochemical Nitrate Reduction to Ammonia using γ-Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>/BCN in a Neutral Medium
Electrochemical reduction of nitrate, which is a widespread pollutant, offers an alternate approach for the ammonia synthesis. Developing a stable catalyst that can selectively reduce nitrate to ammonia in a neutral medium is considered in this study. An active catalyst based on iron oxide supported on boron carbon nitride (γ-Fe2O3/BCN) is developed. The catalyst shows a Faradaic efficiency of 95% (at −0.59 V vs RHE) and yield rate of 7570 μg h–1 mgcat–1 (at −0.64 V vs RHE) of ammonia. The γ-Fe2O3/BCN catalyst also exhibits long-term stability in cyclic tests. The computational studies reveal that the charge transfer between γ-Fe2O3 and BCN in γ-Fe2O3/BCN has a critical role in enhancing the catalytic activity as compared to γ-Fe2O3 and BCN.
Authors
- Soniya Mariya Varghese (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4044-6491)
- Sooraj Kunnikuruvan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6734-4786)
- Anju Vakakuzhiyil Gopinathan
- G. Ranga Rao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2930-3756)
- S. Sasikumar
- Sudhin Rathnakumaran (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-9498-2764)
Institutions
- Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IN)
- Materials Design (France) (FR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- ACS Catalysis
- Published
- 2025-03-27
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.5c00936
- Citations
- 16
- Primary Topic
- Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 6.22
Funders
- Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India
- Science and Engineering Research Board