Spin polarized Fe1−Ti pairs for highly efficient electroreduction nitrate to ammonia

Abstract Electrochemical nitrate reduction to ammonia offers an attractive solution to environmental sustainability and clean energy production but suffers from the sluggish *NO hydrogenation with the spin–state transitions. Herein, we report that the manipulation of oxygen vacancies can contrive spin−polarized Fe 1 −Ti pairs on monolithic titanium electrode that exhibits an attractive NH 3 yield rate of 272,000 μg h −1 mg Fe −1 and a high NH 3 Faradic efficiency of 95.2% at −0.4 V vs. RHE, far superior to the counterpart with spin−depressed Fe 1 −Ti pairs (51000 μg h –1 mg Fe –1 ) and the mostly reported electrocatalysts. The unpaired spin electrons of Fe and Ti atoms can effectively interact with the key intermediates, facilitating the *NO hydrogenation. Coupling a flow−through electrolyzer with a membrane-based NH 3 recovery unit, the simultaneous nitrate reduction and NH 3 recovery was realized. This work offers a pioneering strategy for manipulating spin polarization of electrocatalysts within pair sites for nitrate wastewater treatment.