Co-engineering of Fe-Mn nanocluster with porous carbon for enhanced electrocatalytic ammonia synthesis

Abstract

Electrochemical nitrate reduction (NO3−RR) to produce ammonia (NH3) has emerged as a win-win strategy for treating nitrate contaminants, but it subject to the poor activity and sustainability of the electrocatalyst. Herein, a nanocluster oxide iron-manganese loaded nitrogen/oxygen-doped porous carbon catalyst is successfully developed for enhancing NO3−RR. The catalyst enables the NH3 yield rate of 359.87 μmol h−1 cm−2 and a high Faradaic efficiency of 87.73%. Furthermore, the Zn-NO3− battery with NC-Fe1Mn2/NOPC as cathode exbibits a high peak power density of 0.31 mW cm−2 and a NH3 yield of 25.79 μmol h−1 cm−2.