Surface Dynamic Redox Modulation of CuFe Achieving Near‐Unity Selectivity in Solar‐Integrated Nitrate‐to‐Ammonia Conversion
ABSTRACT Electrocatalytic nitrate reduction (NO 3 − RR) provides a sustainable pathway for NH 3 production under ambient conditions. Although operation in neutral media is more practically relevant, the reaction generally suffers from sluggish kinetics and unfavorable hydrogenation steps, which collectively limit NH 3 selectivity. Here, we develop a graphene‐encapsulated CuFe alloy catalyst (CuFe‐G) that enables highly efficient NO 3 − RR via a dynamically generated CuFe δ+ surface active layer. The synergistic alloy interface drives the spontaneous conversion of NO 3 − to NO 2 − , while in Situ surface redox dynamics create an active CuFe δ+ layer that optimizes *NO adsorption and accelerates hydrogenation kinetics. In parallel, encapsulation of the dynamic CuFe δ+ species within multilayer graphene constructs a mechanically robust and highly conductive interface that stabilizes the active sites and facilitates rapid charge transport. As a result, CuFe‐G delivers a peak NH 3 Faradaic efficiency of 99.63% at −1.0 V vs. RHE, together with an NH 3 yield rate of 8.03 mg h −1 mg cat −1 . When integrated into a CuFe‐G‖RuO 2 electrolyzer, the system further achieves a current density of 400 mA cm −2 at 2.6 V and maintains a solar‐to‐ammonia efficiency of 4.1% under fluctuating illumination. This work therefore establishes a dynamically redox‐regulated catalytic platform for sustainable, solar‐driven nitrate‐to‐ammonia conversion.
Authors
- Shoufu Cao
- Wenxing Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9669-4358)
- Youzi Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8574-3019)
- Ruiqing Zou
- Sibi Liu
- Y. Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-1938-1438)
- Wenjing Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-5541-3519)
- Xuanhua Li
- Pengan Zhang
- Xiaoqing Lu
- Peng Guo
Institutions
- Guangdong University of Technology (CN)
- Northwestern Polytechnical University (CN)
- Southern University of Science and Technology (CN)
- China University of Petroleum, East China (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Angewandte Chemie
- Published
- 2026-03-09
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.7181582
- Primary Topic
- Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00