Dynamic Photovoltaic‐Electrolysis Coupling of Stable (>1000 h) CuP/CoF Catalysts with 6% Solar‐to‐Fuel Efficiency
Solar-driven ammonia synthesis via electrocatalytic nitrate reduction could disrupt the century-old Haber-Bosch process. However, current systems are limited to lab-scale prototypes due to the instability of photovoltaic-electrolysis (PV-EC) coupling under real-world solar fluctuations and unproven scalability. Here, we present a laboratory to megawatt (Lab-to-MW) framework, encompassing catalyst design and renewable energy-powered ammonia synthesis. A dual-functional CuP/CoF catalyst fabricated on cobalt foam enables efficient nitrate-to-ammonia conversion by modulating reactive hydrogen (<sup>*</sup>H) supply and reducing the kinetic barrier for the hydrogenation of nitrogenous intermediates. The catalyst achieves a high ammonia faradaic efficiency of 81.2% at low potential (-0.3 V vs. RHE) and long-term stability (>1000 h) in anion-exchange membrane (AEM) electrolyzers. Subsequently, a dynamic PV-EC system integrating >25%-efficiency silicon solar modules, operates stably for 50 h under simulated irradiance (air mass, AM 1.5G), delivering a 5.92% solar-to-fuel (STF) efficiency under natural ambient conditions. Capitalizing on this foundation, our solar-adaptive techno-economic modeling demonstrates a transformative levelized cost of ammonia (LCOA) at $0.93/kg NH<sub>3</sub> for 1 MW-scale solar ammonia with real-world irradiance adaptability. This work provides a replicable blueprint for decarbonizing industrial ammonia production, redefining the scalability of solar-driven electrocatalysis for sustainable chemical manufacturing.
Authors
- Y. Z. Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1744-3695)
- Xin Cheng Tu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6376-0897)
- Jiahao Rao
- Yu Bai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9581-9814)
- Chao Duan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7358-3524)
- Heng Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5620-7604)
- Guoxing Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6858-1740)
- Chun Tang
- Qi Deng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2285-6558)
- Guidong Yang
- Qinghua Liu
- Jian Yu
Institutions
- University of Liverpool (GB)
- Southwest Petroleum University (CN)
- Technische Universität Darmstadt (DE)
- State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation (CN)
- Xi'an Jiaotong University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Small
- Published
- 2026-02-05
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202512466
- Primary Topic
- Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00