Intrinsic Ni <sup>0</sup> –Ni <sup>δ+</sup> Pairs in Anti‐Perovskite NiNNi <sub>3</sub> Act as Hydrogen Radical Emitters for Cu Enabling Promoted Electrocatalytic Nitrate Reduction
Electrocatalytic nitrate reduction (NO<sub>3</sub>RR) enables ambient-condition ammonia production, while ampere-level application is still limited by the unsatisfactory efficiency due to the insufficient *H supply for rapid *NO hydrogenation. Herein, we tackled this challenge by constructing the NiNNi<sub>3</sub>/Cu heterostructure catalyst that utilizes the substantial electrostatic potential differences derived from the intrinsic Ni<sup>0</sup>-Ni<sup>δ+</sup> pairs in anti-perovskite NiNNi<sub>3</sub> to accelerate the O─H bond cleavage for *H generation, enhancing NO<sub>3</sub>RR. Consequently, the NiNNi<sub>3</sub>/Cu delivers 1.2 A cm<sup>-2</sup> with 100 ± 0.7% Faradaic efficiency (FE) at ultralow +0.05 V<sub>RHE</sub>. The paired electrosynthesis by coupling NO<sub>3</sub>RR with formaldehyde oxidation yields 500 mA cm<sup>-2</sup> at a low cell voltage of 0.8 V, with 95% NH<sub>3</sub>-FE and 90% formate-FE. Importantly, industrial-level application is further demonstrated by a flow cell with 25 cm<sup>2</sup> electrode that delivers 20 A, and produces 64 g NH<sub>4</sub>Cl for 20 h. This work provides a novel rationale for catalyst design that can boost *H density to accelerate hydrogenation kinetics for advanced electrosynthesis applications.
Authors
- Genqiang Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4887-536X)
- Bocheng Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2093-6442)
- Buqi Ke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4619-9591)
- Mingyu Cheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8435-6180)
- Yanxu Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1828-8837)
- Zechuan Dai
- Pingyi Feng
Institutions
- Hefei National Center for Physical Sciences at Nanoscale (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Angewandte Chemie International Edition
- Published
- 2025-12-13
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202521064
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.78
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- University of Science and Technology of China
- National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory