Ambient Ammonia Synthesis via Nitrate Electroreduction in Neutral Media on Fe₃O₄ Nanoparticles-decorated TiO₂ Nanoribbon Array

Abstract

Electrochemical nitrate (NO₃^-) reduction is a potential approach to produce high-value ammonia (NH₃) while removing NO₃^- pollution, but it requires electrocatalysts with high efficiency and selectivity. Herein, we report the development of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles decorated TiO₂ nanoribbon array on titanium plate (Fe₃O₄@TiO₂/TP) as an efficient electrocatalyst for NO₃^--to-NH₃ conversion. When operated in 0.1 M phosphate-buffered saline and 0.1 M NO₃^-, such Fe₃O₄@TiO₂/TP achieves a prominent NH₃ yield of 12394.3 μg h^-1 cm^-2 and a high Faradaic efficiency of 88.4%. In addition, it exhibits excellent stability during long-time electrolysis.