Interfacial Confinement‐Programmed Hydrogen Spillover on Ag/CoNiS Boosts Nitrate‐to‐Ammonia Electrosynthesis

ABSTRACT Electrochemical nitrate reduction (NO 3 RR) under ambient conditions offers a sustainable route for ammonia (NH 3 ) synthesis; however, its efficiency is restricted by the kinetic mismatch between water dissociation and nitrate hydrogenation. Here, we design Ag/CoNiS heterostructures in which Ag loading density programs interfacial confinement to regulate hydrogen spillover from CoNiS water‐activation domains to Ag‐associated nitrate/nitrogen oxide (NO x ) intermediates, thereby coupling * H generation, relay, and deep nitrate hydrogenation. The optimized Ag M /CoNiS achieves an NH 3 yield of 22.31 mg h −1 cm −2 with 99.13% Faradaic efficiency. In situ Raman, distribution of relaxation times (DRT) analysis, hydrogen/deuterium (H/D) isotope experiments, and tert‐butanol (TBA) perturbation tests reveal that the confined Ag–CoNiS interface regulates interfacial water and establishes a balanced * H supply–consumption regime, thereby suppressing competing hydrogen evolution. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations further show that Ag facilitates nitrate deoxygenation, whereas excessive Ag coverage weakens Co/Ni‐centered water activation, explaining the volcano‐type activity trend. Coupling NO 3 RR with the sulfide oxidation reaction (SOR) further enables a low‐voltage NO 3 RR||SOR electrolyzer, requiring only 0.70 V at 50 mA cm −2 for energy‐saving co‐production of ammonia and sulfur.

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Publication Details

Journal
Advanced Materials
Published
2026-06-29
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.73885
Primary Topic
Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Interfacial Confinement‐Programmed Hydrogen Spillover on Ag/CoNiS Boosts Nitrate‐to‐Ammonia Electrosynthesis

Jianping Yang, Ziyang Wu, Fengting Xie, Xuxin Kang et al.
Advanced Materials
Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction
article

Interfacial Confinement‐Programmed Hydrogen Spillover on Ag/CoNiS Boosts Nitrate‐to‐Ammonia Electrosynthesis

Jianping Yang, Ziyang Wu, Fengting Xie, Xuxin Kang, Lei Wang, Zongtai Li, Honglin Zhu
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Electrochemical nitrate reduction (NO 3 RR) under ambient conditions offers a sustainable route for ammonia (NH 3 ) synthesis; however, its efficiency is restricted by the kinetic mismatch between water dissociation and nitrate hydrogenation. Here, we design Ag/CoNiS heterostructures in which Ag loading density programs interfacial confinement to regulate hydrogen spillover from CoNiS water‐activation domains to Ag‐associated nitrate/nitrogen oxide (NO x ) intermediates, thereby coupling * H generation, relay, and deep nitrate hydrogenation. The optimized Ag M /CoNiS achieves an NH 3 yield of 22.31 mg h −1 cm −2 with 99.13% Faradaic efficiency. In situ Raman, distribution of relaxation times (DRT) analysis, hydrogen/deuterium (H/D) isotope experiments, and tert‐butanol (TBA) perturbation tests reveal that the confined Ag–CoNiS interface regulates interfacial water and establishes a balanced * H supply–consumption regime, thereby suppressing competing hydrogen evolution. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations further show that Ag facilitates nitrate deoxygenation, whereas excessive Ag coverage weakens Co/Ni‐centered water activation, explaining the volcano‐type activity trend. Coupling NO 3 RR with the sulfide oxidation reaction (SOR) further enables a low‐voltage NO 3 RR||SOR electrolyzer, requiring only 0.70 V at 50 mA cm −2 for energy‐saving co‐production of ammonia and sulfur.

Advanced Materials
Ningbo University of Technology (CN), National University of Singapore (SG), Donghua University (CN), Thermal Power Research Institute (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
Responsible consumption and production
Openalex Percentile: Top 20%
Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction
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