Efficient electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate to ammonia over fibrous SmCoO3under ambient conditions

We report SmCoO3 nanofibers as an efficient catalyst for nitrate reduction to ammonia. This catalyst achieves a large NH3 yield of 14.4 mg h-1 mgcat.-1 and a high faradaic efficiency of 81.3% at -1.0 V vs. RHE in 0.1 M PBS with 0.1 M NaNO3, and it also displays excellent electrochemical durability and structural stability. Theoretical calculations indicate that Sm-O and Co-O bonds have an incredibly low adsorption energy of -0.1 eV, which can significantly reduce the applied potential and hence enhance the catalytic activity.