Axially Wired Single‐Site Catalyst Enabled Ampere‐Level Electrocatalytic Ammonia Synthesis From Nitrate
Abstract Electrocatalytic nitrate reduction (NO 3 RR) demonstrates great potential for energy‐efficient ammonia (NH 3 ) synthesis with a low carbon footprint. However, industrial‐level ammonia production is currently limited owing to the insufficient supply of active hydrogen (H * ) from water due to sluggish water‐reductive dissociation at catalytic sites. Inspired by the lysine‐coordinated haem of cytochrome c nitrite reductase, a catalytic architecture is developed through the covalently wiring of iron phthalocyanine (FePc) with carbon nanotubes (CNT) via a pyridine linker. This axially coordinated single‐atom iron catalyst (ACCs‐Fe) achieved an unprecedented NH 3 yield rate of 367.39 mol g cat −1 h −1 and an optimal ammonia Faradaic efficiency (FE) of ≈100%. Through combined in situ spectroscopic characterisation and theoretical calculations, it is demonstrated that the exceptional NO 3 RR performance originated from the pyridine axial coordination‐induced electronic modulation, which simultaneously enhanced water dissociation kinetics (ensuring H * supply) and promoted H * transfer to nitrate/intermediate (enabling deep hydrogenation). This study pioneers the use of axial coordination to accelerate the water‐reductive activation to H * , offering a novel strategy for improving the efficiency of H * ‐mediated NO 3 RR.
Authors
- Lei Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9130-6619)
- Jincai Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1449-4235)
- Xingmiao Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-9233-9894)
- Wenjing Song (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1916-8607)
- Chuncheng Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4034-8063)
- Hua Sheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5605-2630)
- Siqin Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2841-3355)
- Ran Duan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2521-7719)
- Xi Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1064-9973)
- Hongwei Ji (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3128-714X)
Institutions
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Institute of Chemistry (CN)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Functional Materials
- Published
- 2025-12-13
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202525958
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.39