Unconventional phase metal heteronanostructures with tunable exposed interface for efficient tandem nitrate electroreduction to ammonia

Yangbo Ma, Liang Guo, Liang Chang, Weihua Guo, Tao Zhou, Fengkun Hao, Wenda Su, Jingwen Zhou, Guozhi Wang, Mingzheng Shao, Jihan Yu, Jinwen Yin, Yunhao Wang, Fu Liu, An Zhang, Kun Qian, Jie Wang, Xiuyun Zhang, Weijia Zhou, Shengqi Chu, Chongyi Ling (), Lin Gan (), Zhengxiao Guo () and Zhanxi Fan ()
Additional contact information
Yangbo Ma: City University of Hong Kong
Liang Guo: City University of Hong Kong
Liang Chang: Tsinghua University
Weihua Guo: City University of Hong Kong
Tao Zhou: The University of Hong Kong
Fengkun Hao: City University of Hong Kong
Wenda Su: Tsinghua University
Jingwen Zhou: City University of Hong Kong
Guozhi Wang: City University of Hong Kong
Mingzheng Shao: City University of Hong Kong
Jihan Yu: City University of Hong Kong
Jinwen Yin: City University of Hong Kong
Yunhao Wang: City University of Hong Kong
Fu Liu: City University of Hong Kong
An Zhang: City University of Hong Kong
Kun Qian: Great Bay University
Jie Wang: Xihua University
Xiuyun Zhang: Yangzhou University
Weijia Zhou: University of Jinan
Shengqi Chu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Chongyi Ling: Southeast University
Lin Gan: Tsinghua University
Zhengxiao Guo: The University of Hong Kong
Zhanxi Fan: City University of Hong Kong

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

Abstract: Abstract Tandem catalysis is an effective approach to achieve highly selective and high-rate multi-electron/proton transfer reactions, such as nitrate electroreduction, which are important for various physicochemical and biological processes. However, present tandem catalysts suffer from uncontrollable interface, limited crystal phase, and complex synthesis protocols. Here, we report facile seed-mediated synthesis of unconventional phase 4H/fcc Au−Cu heterostructures with a unique beaded-bracelet nanostructure (BBN). Importantly, the exposed Au/Cu interface density can be continuously tuned by modulating discrete Cu domain density on Au nanowires. As a proof-of-concept application, 4H/fcc Au−Cu BBN demonstrates high catalytic performance in nitrate electroreduction to ammonia, with a yield rate and partial current density of 116.2 mg h-1 cm-2 and 1652.0 mA cm-2, respectively. In-situ and theoretical investigations suggest that the unconventional 4H phase and tandem catalysis between Au and Cu domains account for the superior electrocatalytic performance. Besides, this method can be extended to synthesize other unconventional phase heteronanostructures.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-63013-0 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_s41467-025-63013-0

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

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-63013-0

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 ().