Electroreduction of Nitrates, Nitrites, and Gaseous Nitrogen Oxides: A Potential Source of Ammonia in Dinitrogen Reduction Studies

The results presented herein unambiguously demonstrate that neither nanoparticulate carbon-supported gold, nor bismuth powder are active catalysts for the electrocatalytic dinitrogen reduction, but both can efficiently catalyze the electroreduction of NO2–, NO3–, NO, and NO2 to ammonia in an aqueous electrolyte solution. Importantly, reduction of gaseous oxidized forms of nitrogen to NH3 is more facile and occurs at significantly less negative potentials than that of nitrate and nitrite anions.