Nitrate formation from atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen photocatalysed by nano-sized titanium dioxide

Shi-Jie Yuan, Jie-Jie Chen, Zhi-Qi Lin, Wen-Wei Li, Guo-Ping Sheng and Han-Qing Yu ()
Additional contact information
Shi-Jie Yuan: University of Science and Technology of China
Jie-Jie Chen: University of Science and Technology of China
Zhi-Qi Lin: University of Science and Technology of China
Wen-Wei Li: University of Science and Technology of China
Guo-Ping Sheng: University of Science and Technology of China
Han-Qing Yu: University of Science and Technology of China

Nature Communications, 2013, vol. 4, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract The concentration of nitrate in aquatic systems is rising with the development of modern industry and agriculture, causing a cascade of environmental problems. Here we describe a previously unreported nitrate formation process. Both indoor and outdoor experiments are conducted to demonstrate that nitrate may be formed from abundant atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen on nano-sized titanium dioxide surfaces under UV or sunlight irradiation. We suggest that nitric oxide is an intermediate product in this process, and elucidate its formation mechanisms using first-principles density functional theory calculations. Given the expanding use of titanium dioxide worldwide, such a titanium dioxide-mediated photocatalysis process may reveal a potentially underestimated source of nitrate in the environment, which on one hand may lead to an increasing environmental pollution concern, and on the other hand may provide an alternative, gentle and cost-effective method for nitrate production.

Date: 2013
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms3249 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:4:y:2013:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms3249

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

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3249

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 ().