Volume 136, Issue 48 e202409693
Forschungsartikel

Enhanced Charge-Carrier Dynamics and Efficient Photoelectrochemical Nitrate-to-Ammonia Conversion on Antimony Sulfide-Based Photocathodes

Shijie Ren

Shijie Ren

College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Energy Material and Chemistry, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, 010021 China

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Rui-Ting Gao

Corresponding Author

Rui-Ting Gao

College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Energy Material and Chemistry, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, 010021 China

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Jidong Yu

Jidong Yu

College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Energy Material and Chemistry, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, 010021 China

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Yang Yang

Yang Yang

NanoScience Technology Center, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Renewable Energy and Chemical Transformation Cluster, The Stephen W. Hawking Center for Microgravity Research and Education, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, 32826 United States

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Xianhu Liu

Xianhu Liu

State Key Laboratory of Structural Analysis, Optimization and CAE Software for Industrial Equipment, National Engineering Research Center for Advanced Polymer Processing Technology, Zhengzhou University, Wenhua Road 97–1, Zhengzhou, 450002 China

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Limin Wu

Corresponding Author

Limin Wu

College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Energy Material and Chemistry, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, 010021 China

Department of Materials Science and State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433 China

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Lei Wang

Corresponding Author

Lei Wang

College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Energy Material and Chemistry, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, 010021 China

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First published: 12 July 2024
Citations: 1

Abstract

The photoelectrochemical reduction of nitrate to ammonia (PEC NO3RR) has emerged as a promising pathway for facilitating the natural nitrogen cycle. The PEC NO3RR can lower the reduction potential needed for ammonia synthesis through photogenerated voltage, showcasing the significant potential for merging abundant solar energy with sustainable nitrogen fixation. However, it is influenced by the selective photocathodes with poor carrier kinetics, low catalytic selectivity, and ammonia yields. There are few reports on suitable photoelectrodes owning efficient charge transport on PEC NO3RR at low overpotentials. Herein, we rationally constructed the CuSn alloy co-catalysts on the antimony sulfides with a highly selective PEC ammonia and an ultra-low onset potential (0.62 VRHE). CuSn/TiO2/Sb2S3 photoelectrodes achieved an ammonia faradic efficiency of 97.82 % at a low applied potential of 0.4 VRHE, and an ammonia yield of 16.96 μmol h−1 cm−2 at 0 VRHE under one sun illumination. Dynamics experiments and theoretical calculations have demonstrated that CuSn/TiO2/Sb2S3 has an enhanced charge separation and transfer efficiency, facilitating photogenerated electrons to participate in PEC NO3RR quickly. Meanwhile, moderate NO2* adsorption on this photocathode optimizes the catalytic activity and increases the NH4+ yield. This work opens an avenue for designing sulfide-based photocathodes for the efficient route of solar-to-ammonia conversion.

Conflict of Interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests in this work.

Data Availability Statement

Research data are not shared.

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