Nanocluster-agminated amorphous cobalt nanofilms for highly selective electroreduction of nitrate to ammonia

Developing highly-efficient electrocatalysts for the nitrate reduction reaction (NITRR) is a persistent challenge. Here, we present the successful synthesis of 14 amorphous/low crystallinity metal nanofilms on three-dimensional carbon fibers (M-NFs/CP), including Al, Ti, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ag, In, Sn, Pb, Au, or Bi, using rapid thermal evaporation. Among these samples, our study identifies the amorphous Co nanofilm with fine agglomerated Co clusters as the optimal electrocatalyst for NITRR in a neutral medium. The resulting Co-NFs/CP exhibits a remarkable Faradaic efficiency (FENH3) of 91.15 % at − 0.9 V vs RHE, surpassing commercial Co foil (39 %) and Co powder (20 %), despite sharing the same metal composition. Furthermore, during the electrochemical NITRR, the key intermediates on the surface of the Co-NFs/CP catalyst were detected by in situ Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and the possible reaction ways were probed by Density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Theoretical calculations illustrate that the abundant low-coordinate Co atoms of Co-NFs/CP could enhances the adsorption of *NO3 intermediates compared to crystalline Co. Additionally, the amorphous Co structure lowers the energy barrier for the rate-determining step (*NH2→*NH3). This work opens a new avenue for the controllable synthesis of amorphous/low crystallinity metal nano-catalysts for various electrocatalysis reaction applications.