Lattice‐Engineered Dual‐Electron‐Drive Electrode for Selective Ammonia Production From Nitrate

ABSTRACT Ammonia (NH 3 ) is indispensable in agriculture and emerging energy systems, yet its conventional production remains energy‐ and carbon‐intensive. Electrochemical nitrate reduction reaction (NO 3 − RR) represents a promising alternative for sustainable NH 3 synthesis but is hampered by slow kinetics and low selectivity under realistic, neutral conditions. Here, we employ the lattice engineering strategy to construct a cobalt‐doped nanoscale zerovalent iron (Co‐nFe 0 ) electrode that integrates a dual‐electron‐drive mechanism with a self‐triggered alkaline microenvironment to overcome these challenges. Cobalt doping modulated the surface Fe electronic structure to create electron‐deficient Fe sites, which enhanced charge transfer, promoted water dissociation into active hydrogen species, and facilitated the hydrogenation of reaction intermediates. This design enabled an NH 3 Faradaic efficiency of 96% and near‐quantitative selectivity across a wide nitrate concentration range (100–1000 mg L −1 NO 3 − ‐N), alongside sustained operational stability. An insitu NH 3 recovery system could provide stable operation over 360 h and deliver 13 g day −1 NH 3 production with 100% NH 3 recovery. Rice pot experiments demonstrated that the recovered ammonium sulfate (99% purity) performed comparably to commercial fertilizers. This work provides an efficient electrocatalyst that couples electronic structure modulation and interfacial microenvironment regulation, thereby offering a sustainable technological route for nitrogen upcycling and green fertilizer production.

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Publication Details

Journal
Advanced Materials
Published
2026-06-12
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.73699
Primary Topic
Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Lattice‐Engineered Dual‐Electron‐Drive Electrode for Selective Ammonia Production From Nitrate

Lijian Jin, Daohui Lin, Menglian Zheng, Hui Li et al.
Advanced Materials
Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction
article

Lattice‐Engineered Dual‐Electron‐Drive Electrode for Selective Ammonia Production From Nitrate

Lijian Jin, Daohui Lin, Menglian Zheng, Hui Li, C Chen, Du Chen, Yi-Xiang Wang, Qianhai Zhou, J F Xu, Jie Sun, Zhongyuan Guo
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Ammonia (NH 3 ) is indispensable in agriculture and emerging energy systems, yet its conventional production remains energy‐ and carbon‐intensive. Electrochemical nitrate reduction reaction (NO 3 − RR) represents a promising alternative for sustainable NH 3 synthesis but is hampered by slow kinetics and low selectivity under realistic, neutral conditions. Here, we employ the lattice engineering strategy to construct a cobalt‐doped nanoscale zerovalent iron (Co‐nFe 0 ) electrode that integrates a dual‐electron‐drive mechanism with a self‐triggered alkaline microenvironment to overcome these challenges. Cobalt doping modulated the surface Fe electronic structure to create electron‐deficient Fe sites, which enhanced charge transfer, promoted water dissociation into active hydrogen species, and facilitated the hydrogenation of reaction intermediates. This design enabled an NH 3 Faradaic efficiency of 96% and near‐quantitative selectivity across a wide nitrate concentration range (100–1000 mg L −1 NO 3 − ‐N), alongside sustained operational stability. An insitu NH 3 recovery system could provide stable operation over 360 h and deliver 13 g day −1 NH 3 production with 100% NH 3 recovery. Rice pot experiments demonstrated that the recovered ammonium sulfate (99% purity) performed comparably to commercial fertilizers. This work provides an efficient electrocatalyst that couples electronic structure modulation and interfacial microenvironment regulation, thereby offering a sustainable technological route for nitrogen upcycling and green fertilizer production.

Advanced Materials
Ningbo University (CN), Ministry of Education (NZ), Ningbo University of Technology (CN), Tohoku University (JP), Ministry of Education (RO), Advanced Institute of Materials Science (JP), Zhejiang Energy Research Institute (CN), Zhejiang Gongshang University (CN), Zhejiang University (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Key Research and Development Program of China, Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
Zero hunger
Openalex Percentile: Top 18%
Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction
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