Reaction-driven formation of anisotropic strains in FeTeSe nanosheets boosts low-concentration nitrate reduction to ammonia

Jiawei Liu, Yifan Xu, Ruihuan Duan, Mingsheng Zhang, Yue Hu, Mengxin Chen, Bo Han, Jinfeng Dong, Carmen Lee, Loku Singgappulige Rosantha Kumara, Okkyun Seo, Jochi Tseng, Takeshi Watanabe, Zheng Liu, Qiang Zhu, Jianwei Xu, Man-Fai Ng (), Dongshuang Wu () and Qingyu Yan ()
Additional contact information
Jiawei Liu: Nanyang Technological University
Yifan Xu: Nanyang Technological University
Ruihuan Duan: Nanyang Technological University
Mingsheng Zhang: Innovis #08-03
Yue Hu: Nanyang Technological University
Mengxin Chen: Nanyang Technological University
Bo Han: Nanyang Technological University
Jinfeng Dong: Nanyang Technological University
Carmen Lee: Nanyang Technological University
Loku Singgappulige Rosantha Kumara: Sayo-cho
Okkyun Seo: Sayo-cho
Jochi Tseng: Sayo-cho
Takeshi Watanabe: Sayo-cho
Zheng Liu: Nanyang Technological University
Qiang Zhu: Innovis #08-03
Jianwei Xu: Jurong Island
Man-Fai Ng: Connexis #16-16
Dongshuang Wu: Nanyang Technological University
Qingyu Yan: Nanyang Technological University

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract FeM (M = Se, Te) chalcogenides have been well studied as promising magnets and superconductors, yet their potential as electrocatalysts is often considered limited due to anion dissolution and oxidation during electrochemical reactions. Here, we show that by using two-dimensional (2D) FeTeSe nanosheets, these conventionally perceived limitations can be leveraged to enable the reaction-driven in-situ generation of anisotropic in-plane tensile and out-of-plane compressive strains during the alkaline low-concentration nitrate reduction reaction (NO3−RR). The reconstructed catalyst demonstrates enhanced performance, yielding ammonia with a near-unity Faradaic efficiency and a high yield rate of 42.14 ± 2.06 mg h−1 mgcat−1. A series of operando synchrotron-based X-ray measurements and ex-situ characterizations, alongside theoretical calculations, reveal that strain formation is ascribed to chalcogen vacancies created by partial Se/Te leaching, which facilitate the adsorption and dissociation of OH−/NO3− from the electrolyte, resulting in an O(H)-doped strained lattice. Combined electrochemical and computational investigations suggest that the superior catalytic performance arises from the synergistic contributions from the exposed strained Fe sites and surface hydroxyl groups. These findings highlight the potential of 2D transition metal chalcogenides for in-situ structural engineering during electrochemical reactions to enhance catalytic activity for NO3−RR and beyond.

Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-58940-x Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-58940-x

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-58940-x

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().