Ru doped NiMoO4 nanoarray as a high-efficiency electrocatalyst for nitrite reduction to ammonia

The electrocatalytic reduction of nitrite to recyclable ammonia (NH3) is essential to maintain nitrogen balance and meet growing energy requirements. Herein, we report that Ru doped honeycomb NiMoO4 nanosheet with copious oxygen vacancies grown on nickel foam substrate has been prepared by a facile hydrothermal synthesis and immersion process, which can act as an efficient electrocatalyst for NH3 synthesis by reduction of nitrite. By optimizing the concentration of RuCl3 solution, 0.01Ru-NiMoO4/NF possesses excellent NO2−RR performance with NH3 yield of 20249.17 ± 637.42 μg h−1 cm−2 at −0.7 V and FE of 95.56 ± 0.72 % at −0.6 V. When assembled into a Zn–NO2− battery, it provides a remarkable level of power density of 13.89 mW cm−2, outperforming the performance of virtually all previous reports. The efficient adsorption and activation of NO2− over Ru-doped NiMoO4 with oxygen vacancy have been verified by density functional theory calculations, as well as the possible reaction pathway.