Volume 136, Issue 38 e202409125
Forschungsartikel

Coordination Desymmetrization of Copper Single-Atom Catalyst for Efficient Nitrate Reduction

Zhengxiang Gu

Zhengxiang Gu

School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, 210023 Nanjing, China

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Yechuan Zhang

Yechuan Zhang

School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, 210023 Nanjing, China

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Yang Fu

Yang Fu

Jiangmen Laboratory of Carbon Science and Technology, Jiangmen, 529020 China

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Dandan Hu

Dandan Hu

Advanced Research Institute and Department of Chemistry, Taizhou University, Tai Zhou Shi, Jiaojiang, 318000 China

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Fang Peng

Corresponding Author

Fang Peng

School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, 210023 Nanjing, China

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Yawen Tang

Corresponding Author

Yawen Tang

School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, 210023 Nanjing, China

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Huajun Yang

Corresponding Author

Huajun Yang

School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, 210023 Nanjing, China

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First published: 08 August 2024
Citations: 2

Abstract

Coordination engineering strategy for optimizing the catalytic performance of single-atom catalysts (SACs) has been rapidly developed over the last decade. However, previous reports on copper SACs for nitrate reduction reactions (NO3RR) have mostly focused on symmetric coordination configurations such as Cu-N4 and Cu-N3. In addition, the mechanism in terms of the regulation of coordination environment and catalytic properties of SACs has not been well demonstrated. Herein, we disrupted the local symmetric structure of copper atoms by introducing unsaturated heteroatomic coordination of Cu−O and Cu−N to achieve the coordination desymmetrization of Cu-N1O2 SACs. The Cu-N1O2 SACs exhibit an efficient nitrate-to-ammonia conversion with a high FE of ~96.5 % and a yield rate of 3120 μg NH3 h−1 cm−2 at −0.60 V vs RHE. As indicated by in situ Raman spectra, the catalysts facilitate the accumulation of NO3 and the selective adsorption of *NO2, which were further confirmed by the theoretical study of surface dipole moment and orbital hybridization. Our work illustrated the correlation between the coordination desymmetrization and the catalytic performance of copper SACs for NO3RR.

Conflict of Interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available in the supplementary material of this article.

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