Modulating Ru-Co bond lengths in Ru1Co single-atom alloys through crystal phase engineering for electrocatalytic nitrate-to-ammonia conversion

Xiaojuan Zhu, Yi-Chi Wang, Kaiyu Qu, Leyang Song, Jing Wang, Yushuang Gong, Xiang Liu, Cheng-Fei Li, Shiling Yuan, Qipeng Lu () and An-Liang Wang ()
Additional contact information
Xiaojuan Zhu: Shandong University
Yi-Chi Wang: Tsinghua University
Kaiyu Qu: Shandong University
Leyang Song: Shandong University
Jing Wang: Shandong University
Yushuang Gong: Shandong University
Xiang Liu: Shandong University
Cheng-Fei Li: Foshan Xianhu Laboratory
Shiling Yuan: Shandong University
Qipeng Lu: University of Science and Technology Beijing
An-Liang Wang: Shandong University

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

Abstract: Abstract Single atom alloys (SAAs) with maximum atomic efficiency and uniform active sites show great promise for heterogeneous catalytic applications. Meanwhile, crystal phase engineering has granered significant interest due to tailored atomic arrangements and coordination environments. However, the crystal phase engineering of SAAs remains challenging owing to high surface energy and complex phase transition dynamics. Herein, Ru1Co SAAs with tunable crystal phases (hexagonal-close-packed (hcp), face-centered-cubic (fcc), and hcp/fcc structure) are successfully synthesized via controlled phase transitions. These SAAs exhibit distinct crystal phase-dependent performance towards nitrate reduction reaction (NO3RR), where hcp-Ru1Co outperforms its counterparts with a NH3 Faradaic efficiency of 96.78% at 0 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode and long-term stability exceeding 1200 h. Mechanistic investigations reveal that the hcp configurations enables shorter Ru-Co distances, stronger interatomic interactions, and more positive surface potential compared to hcp/fcc-Ru1Co and fcc-Ru1Co, which enhances the NO3− adsorption, reduces the free energy barrier, and suppresses competitive hydrogen evolution.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-61232-z 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_s41467-025-61232-z

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

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-61232-z

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 ().