Enhanced Ammonia Electro-oxidation Using Iron Oxide-Nickel Nanoparticles Under Alternating Magnetic Fields Assistance

This work presents an innovative catalytic system composed of iron oxide-nickel nanoparticles (FexOy+Ni NPs) supported on a carbon cloth (CC) with the assistance of an alternating magnetic field, i.e., magnetoelectrocatalysis, to improve the efficiency of ammonia electro-oxidation. An electrochemical current gain of the ammonia reaction increased by 50% when an alternate magnetic field of 1038 Oe of intensity and 224 kHz of frequency was applied for 100 s, as observed through chronoamperometric (CA) measurements at 0.55 V vs Hg/HgO. The results show that the magnetic field increases the reaction rate according to the Arrhenius law and facilitates the electrocatalytic current. Thus, this work unveils that magnetoelectrocatalysis has the potential to surpass the current catalytic systems toward large ammonia electro-oxidation.