Spin‐Selective Anti‐Perovskite Enables Breakthrough Nitrate‐to‐Ammonia Electrocatalysis
Electrochemical nitrate reduction to ammonia offers environmental and energy benefits, but progress is hindered by sluggish multistep proton-coupled electron transfers and competing side reactions. Here, we introduce an antiperovskite CuNCo<sub>3</sub> catalyst featuring a 3d-3d interaction framework. This framework stabilizes spin-selective Co sites even upon surface Co-N bond cleavage and drives asymmetric nitrate consumption. CuNCo<sub>3</sub> achieves 100% Faradaic efficiency and an NH<sub>3</sub> production rate of 124.6 mg mg<sub>cat</sub> <sup>-1</sup> h<sup>-1</sup> at -0.4 V vs. RHE. Operando XAS, XES, and ATR-FTIR directly link the evolution of spin-selective Co sites with specific NO<sub>3</sub>RR intermediates, revealing that spin-selective Co sites lower hydrogenation barriers and accelerate key steps. These results demonstrate that spin-selective anti-perovskite frameworks provide a robust, earth-abundant platform for high-performance nitrate-to-ammonia electrocatalysts.
Authors
- Daqin Guan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5393-2301)
- Shih‐Ching Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6499-6973)
- Yujie Lin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2146-0626)
- Hsiang‐Chun Yu
- Yuchang Lin
- Yu‐Ru Lin
- Jiayi Tang
- Suh‐Ciuan Lim
- Yijun Zhong
- Xiaomin Xu
- Zongping Shao
Institutions
- National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (TW)
- Curtin University (AU)
- National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center (TW)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Materials
- Published
- 2026-02-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202523066
- Primary Topic
- Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Science and Technology Council