Vanadium defect-engineering in molybdenum disulfide for electrochemical nitrate reduction. Issue 45 (5th October 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Yu, Miao; Huang, Hao; Hu, Jie; Wang, Shuang; Li, Jinping; Wang, Dingsheng
• Is Part Of: Journal of materials chemistry. Volume 10:Issue 45(2022)
• Page Start: 23990
• Page End: 23997
• Publication Date: 2022-10-05
• Subjects: Materials -- Research -- Periodicals; Chemistry, Analytic -- Periodicals; Environmental sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; 543.0284
• DOI: 10.1039/d2ta06346h
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2050-7488

Abstract

Abstract : In this work, vanadium doped molybdenum disulfide (V–MoS2 ) electrocatalysts are successfully prepared by using vanadium defect-engineering for electrochemical nitrate reduction reaction (NITRR), which has significantly improved NITRR activity. Abstract : The electrochemical nitrate reduction reaction (NITRR) provides a promising option for nitrate pollutant removal and ammonia production under ambient conditions, which requires electrocatalysts with high activity. Here, bio-inspired metalloenzymes MoS2 nanoflowers with defect-engineering via vanadium doping (V–MoS2 ) prepared by a one-step hydrothermal method are verified to show remarkable NITRR capability. The introduction of highly conductive vanadium changes the electron orbitals and the metalloenzyme-like structure of the MoS2, making the 15% V–MoS2 catalyst exhibit a high-efficiency nitrate removal rate of 95% and excellent ammonia selectivity of 89.5% at −1.1 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) in 0.5 M Na2 SO4 solution. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the reduced energy barrier of 0.41 eV, correlated with hydrogenation of *NO to *NOH, plays a crucial part in the enhanced nitrate removal rate and NH4 + selectivity of V–MoS2 . This work opens up a new avenue for the design of bio-inspired metalloenzyme catalysts for the NITRR.