The Efficient Electrochemical Nitrate Reduction to Ammonia on Nickel Telluride/Copper Foam with Electron-rich Sites

Electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate (NO 3 - ) to ammonia (NH 3 ) provides a green and moderate alternative to the Haber-Bosch method. Yet, the NH 3 Faradaic efficiency (FE) is limited by the generation of byproducts and the occurrence of competitive hydrogen evolution reactions. The development of electrocatalysts for NO 3 - reduction to NH 3 with high activity and selectivity remains a significant challenge. Herein, we designed tellurides with electron-rich Ni sites grown on copper foam (Ni 3 Te 2 /Cu), which have been demonstrated to possess superior catalytic activity for electrochemical conversion of NO 3 - to NH 3 , with a maximum NO 3 - conversion rate of 100% and the FE was 96.78% at -0.49   V vs RHE and pH=7. The experimental results confirmed that the excellent NO 3 - reduction activity was attributed to the outstanding characteristic of tellurides and the formation of electron-rich Ni sites. Theoretical calculations further indicated that the tight binding of Cu and electron-rich Ni promotes NO 3 RR activity.