Enzyme‐Mimicking Metal–Phosphide Tandem Catalytic Centers for Efficient Electrochemical Nitrate‐to‐Ammonia Conversion and Zinc–Nitrate Battery
Achieving spatially coupled and functionally complementary active sites in synthetic catalysts remains a significant challenge. Inspired by the enzymatic cascade involving nitrate reductase and nitrite reductase, we report a nanozyme comprising iron clusters and iron-doped nickel phosphide nanoparticles on CeO<sub>2</sub> nanorods (Fe-Fe<sub>x</sub>Ni<sub>2-x</sub>P/CeO<sub>2</sub>) in proximity for efficient electrocatalytic nitrate-to-ammonia conversion and Zn-NO<sub>3</sub> <sup>-</sup> battery. The Fe clusters serve as nitrate reductase mimics, promoting the deoxygenation step of NO<sub>3</sub> <sup>-</sup> to NO<sub>2</sub> <sup>-</sup>, while the adjacent Fe<sub>x</sub>Ni<sub>2-x</sub>P nanoparticles serve as nitrite reductase mimics, accelerating the subsequent hydrogenation steps to NH<sub>3</sub>. The CeO<sub>2</sub> nanorods stabilize the dual active sites and function as proton reservoirs to suppress the hydrogen evolution reaction. Thus, the nanozyme delivers exceptional performance in NH<sub>3</sub> electrosynthesis, achieving a high yield rate of 43.5 mg h<sup>-1</sup> cm<sup>-2</sup> with a Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 91.2% at -0.7 V versus RHE in an H-type cell and an industrial-level current density of 800 mA cm<sup>-2</sup> for over 100 h under flow-cell conditions (FE<sub>NH3</sub> > 90%) at the same potential. When employed Fe-Fe<sub>x</sub>Ni<sub>2-x</sub>P/CeO<sub>2</sub> as a cathode in a rechargeable Zn-NO<sub>3</sub> <sup>-</sup> battery, it enables simultaneous NH<sub>3</sub> production and power generation, delivering a peak power density of 21.1 mW cm<sup>-2</sup> and an NH<sub>3</sub> yield rate of 1.9 mg h<sup>-1</sup> cm<sup>-2</sup>.
Authors
- Tao Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2161-5808)
- Boyu Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1339-2173)
- Xinnan Xie
- Xinchun Yang
- Yi Zhong
- Jian‐Ke Sun
- Pandi Muthukumar
Institutions
- Beijing Institute of Technology (CN)
- Hunan University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Advanced Energy (United States) (US)
- Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (CN)
- Shenzhen Technology University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Angewandte Chemie International Edition
- Published
- 2026-01-28
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202525416
- Primary Topic
- Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Zhejiang Sci-Tech University
- Xi'an Technological University
- Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation of Guangdong Province