Mesoporous Carbon Nanofibers Loaded with Ordered PtFe Alloy Nanoparticles for Electrocatalytic Nitrate Reduction to Ammonia

Abstract

Highly dispersed bimetallic alloy nanoparticle electrocatalysts have been demonstrated to exhibit exceptional performance in driving the nitrate reduction reaction(NO_3RR)to generate ammonia(NH₃). In this study, we prepared mesoporous carbon nanofibers(mCNFs)functionalized with ordered PtFe alloys(O-PtFe-mCNFs)by a composite micelle interface-induced co-assembly method using poly(ethylene oxide)-block-polystyrene(PEO-b-PS)as a template. When employed as electrocatalysts, O-PtFe-mCNFs exhibited superior electrocatalytic performance for the NO_3RR compared to the mCNFs functionalized with disordered PtFe alloys(D-PtFe-mCNFs). Notably, the NH₃ production performance was particularly outstanding, with a maximum NH₃ yield of up to 959.6 μmol/(h·cm²).Furthermore, the Faraday efficiency(FE)was even 88. 0% at -0.4 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode(RHE). This finding provides compelling evidence of the potential of ordered PtFe alloy catalysts for the electrocatalytic NO₃RR.

Keywords

ordered PtFe alloy / mesoporous carbon nanofiber(mCNF) / nitrate reduction reaction(NO₃RR) / ammonia(NH₃)production reaction

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Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China(52225204)

National Natural Science Foundation of China(52173233)

National Natural Science Foundation of China(52202085)

Innovation Program of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, China(2021-01-07-00-03-E00109)

Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai, China(23ZR1479200)

Shanghai Education Development Foundation and Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, China(20SG33)

Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China(2232024Y-01)

DHU Distinguished Young Professor Program, China(LZA2022001)

DHU Distinguished Young Professor Program, China(LZB2023002)