Nitrate pollution from agricultural and industrial sources is one of the leading sources of wastewater contamination in the United States. Additionally, excess nitrates can cause adverse environmental effects such as eutrophication causing algal blooms and oxygen depletion in the bodies of water. One solution to this problem is to design electrocatalysts that can convert nitrate to ammonia electrochemically, allowing for wastewater remediation with nutrient recovery.  Our lab has recently developed electropolymerized molecular films with early transition metal catalysts that catalyze the 6-electron reduction of nitrate to ammonia with high selectivity (&gt;90% Faradaic efficiency) at rates comparable to state-of-the-art solid-state electrocatalysts.  In this presentation, we will discuss the development of this catalyst system, and explore the role of mass transport, catalyst coverage, and pH on the mechanism of electrochemical nitrate reduction. These studies allow us to illustrate how the local chemical environment influences the activity and selectivity for the multi-electron transformation of nitrate to useful products.

Selective nitrate reduction to ammonia by electropolymerized molecular electrocatalysts

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ACS Fall 2022

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