Construction of a Synergistic Ag/Co(OH) <sub>2</sub> Composite for Efficient Nitrate Electroreduction to Ammonia
Developing efficient electrocatalysts for the nitrate reduction reaction (NO<sub>3</sub>RR) to produce ammonia is of great significance. In this work, a Ag nanoparticle-modified Co(OH)<sub>2</sub> catalyst was prepared by electrodeposition and liquid-phase deposition. The Ag/Co(OH)<sub>2</sub> composite exhibits significantly enhanced NO<sub>3</sub>RR performance in comparison with Co(OH)<sub>2</sub>, achieving a high NH<sub>3</sub> FE and a yield rate of 95.6% and 97.1 μmol h<sup>-1</sup> cm<sup>-2</sup> at -0.6 V in a neutral medium. Comprehensive characterizations confirm the strong interfacial coupling between Ag and Co(OH)<sub>2</sub>, while electrochemical studies reveal synergistic effects that simultaneously enhance nitrate adsorption and moderate hydrogen adsorption. Such a probable NO<sub>3</sub>RR tandem mechanism is proposed in which Ag dominates the initial 2e<sup>-</sup> pathway (*NO<sub>3</sub>→*NO<sub>2</sub>) and Co(OH)<sub>2</sub> was prior in the subsequent *NO hydrogenation into *NH<sub>3</sub>. This work provides both a novel catalyst and fundamental insights into the composite material design for electrochemical NO<sub>3</sub>RR.
Authors
- Zhanning Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3399-0448)
- Ruixiang Ge (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-4197-2637)
- Ming Ding (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6376-3174)
- Jincheng Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7332-6704)
- Min Ma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-3586-4872)
- Jingyi Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6969-3341)
- Congcong Jian
Institutions
- Division of Materials Science and Engineering (AU)
- Shandong University of Science and Technology (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
- Published
- 2025-10-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.5c17312
- Primary Topic
- Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00