High-throughput screening of heterogeneous transition metal dual-atom catalysts by synergistic effect for nitrate reduction to ammonia

TL;DR

This study uses first-principles calculations to identify dual-atom catalysts supported on g-CN that exhibit high activity and stability for nitrate reduction to ammonia, with potential for photocatalytic applications.

Contribution

It systematically investigates a series of heterogenous dual-metal catalysts, revealing synergistic effects that enhance nitrate reduction performance and stability, and broadens the application scope to photocatalysis.

Findings

FeMo@g-CN and CrMo@g-CN show high catalytic activity with low limiting potentials.

Synergistic d orbital coupling enhances NO3- reduction.

Dual-metal catalysts reduce g-CN bandgap, improving visible light absorption.

Abstract

Nitrate reduction to ammonia has attracted much attention for nitrate (NO3-) removal and ammonia (NH3) production. Identifying promising catalyst for active nitrate electroreduction reaction (NO3RR) is critical to realize efficient upscaling synthesis of NH3 under low-temperature condition. For this purpose, by means of spin-polarized first-principles calculations, the NO3RR performance on a series of graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN) supported double-atom catalysts (denoted as M1M2@g-CN) are systematically investigated. The synergistic effect of heterogeneous dual-metal sites can bring out tunable activity and selectivity for NO3RR. Amongst 21 candidates examined, FeMo@g-CN and CrMo@g-CN possess a high performance with low limiting potentials of -0.34 and -0.39 V, respectively. The activities can be attributed to a synergistic effect of the M1M2 dimer d orbitals coupling with the anti-bonding orbital of NO3-. The dissociation of deposited FeMo and CrMo dimers into two separated monomers is proved to be difficult, ensuring the kinetic stability of M1M2@g-CN. Furthermore, the dual-metal decorated on g-CN significantly reduces the bandgap of g-CN and broadens the adsorption window of visible light, implying its great promise for photocatalysis. This work opens a new avenue for future theoretical and experimental design related to NO3RR photo-/electrocatalysts.