Carbon‐Confined Fe <sub>3</sub> C/Fe <sub>3</sub> N Janus Interfaces for Selective Nitric Oxide‐to‐Ammonia Electroreduction

ABSTRACT Electrocatalytic nitric oxide reduction to ammonia couples pollutant valorization with sustainable nitrogen conversion, but high activity and selectivity require concurrent control of NO transport, NO activation, and hydrogenation at the gas‐liquid‐solid interface. Here, we report a self‐supported, noble‐metal‐free Fe 3 C/Fe 3 N@C catalyst, composed of earth‐abundant Fe, C, and N, featuring defect‐rich Fe 3 C/Fe 3 N Janus nanostructures confined within graphitic carbon. The catalyst achieves an NH 3 yield rate of 468.3 µmol h −1 cm −2 with a Faradaic efficiency of 94.2% at −0.6 V versus RHE, placing it among the most efficient reported NORR electrocatalysts. Mechanistic studies reveal that the graphitic carbon shell facilitates NO diffusion by alleviating the steric and dynamic constraints imposed by the hydrogen‐bonded water network. At the Janus interface, Fe 3 C sites preferentially adsorb and activate NO, whereas nitrogen‐vacancy‐rich Fe 3 N sites promote H 2 O dissociation to supply reactive *H for subsequent hydrogenation. This spatial coupling of mass‐transfer promotion, NO activation, and interfacial *H generation enables efficient and selective NO‐to‐NH 3 electroreduction. These findings establish carbon‐confined, earth‐abundant carbide/nitride Janus interfaces as a promising design principle for high‐performance NORR catalysts.

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Publication Details

Journal
Angewandte Chemie International Edition
Published
2026-07-24
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.1030679
Primary Topic
Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Carbon‐Confined Fe 3 C/Fe 3 N Janus Interfaces for Selective Nitric Oxide‐to‐Ammonia Electroreduction

S L Li, Eslam M. Hamed, Dengsong Zhang, Fun Man Fung et al.
Angewandte Chemie International Edition
Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction
article

Carbon‐Confined Fe 3 C/Fe 3 N Janus Interfaces for Selective Nitric Oxide‐to‐Ammonia Electroreduction

S L Li, Eslam M. Hamed, Dengsong Zhang, Fun Man Fung, Emiliano Cortés, Biyi Huang, Lupeng Han, Evangelina Pensa, Ziqi Wei, Jialing Song, Haotian Huang
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Electrocatalytic nitric oxide reduction to ammonia couples pollutant valorization with sustainable nitrogen conversion, but high activity and selectivity require concurrent control of NO transport, NO activation, and hydrogenation at the gas‐liquid‐solid interface. Here, we report a self‐supported, noble‐metal‐free Fe 3 C/Fe 3 N@C catalyst, composed of earth‐abundant Fe, C, and N, featuring defect‐rich Fe 3 C/Fe 3 N Janus nanostructures confined within graphitic carbon. The catalyst achieves an NH 3 yield rate of 468.3 µmol h −1 cm −2 with a Faradaic efficiency of 94.2% at −0.6 V versus RHE, placing it among the most efficient reported NORR electrocatalysts. Mechanistic studies reveal that the graphitic carbon shell facilitates NO diffusion by alleviating the steric and dynamic constraints imposed by the hydrogen‐bonded water network. At the Janus interface, Fe 3 C sites preferentially adsorb and activate NO, whereas nitrogen‐vacancy‐rich Fe 3 N sites promote H 2 O dissociation to supply reactive *H for subsequent hydrogenation. This spatial coupling of mass‐transfer promotion, NO activation, and interfacial *H generation enables efficient and selective NO‐to‐NH 3 electroreduction. These findings establish carbon‐confined, earth‐abundant carbide/nitride Janus interfaces as a promising design principle for high‐performance NORR catalysts.

Angewandte Chemie International Edition
University College Dublin (IE), National University of Singapore (SG), Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials (CN), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DE)
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, National Natural Science Foundation of China, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
Responsible consumption and production
Openalex Percentile: Top 24%
Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction
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