Journal article
Evaluating Copper-Modified Carbon Composite Nanofiber Electrodes for Electrocatalytic Nitrate Reduction
ACS applied engineering materials, Vol.3(12), pp.4282-4295
12/26/2025
DOI: 10.1021/acsaenm.5c00510
Appears in UI Libraries Support Open Access
Abstract
The increasing urgency to address nitrate (NO3–) pollution in water sources has intensified research on electrochemical nitrate reduction, a process capable of transforming NO3– into valuable ammonia (NH3) by using renewable electricity. Copper (Cu) catalysts can reduce NO3–, but their activity and selectivity toward NH3 can vary based on their structure, reaction environment, and support material. This study examines the efficacy of Cu-modified carbon nanofiber (CNF) supports, tailored through electrospinning, in enhancing the electrocatalytic reduction of NO3– to NH3. Three variants of CNF supports were synthesized: pristine CNFs, CNFs integrated with carbon nanotubes (CNF/CNTs), and CNFs embedded with titanium dioxide nanoparticles (CNF/TiO2). Each electrode’s physical and electrochemical properties were analyzed before and after Cu electrodeposition. Notably, the CNF/TiO2/Cu composites demonstrated a selectivity exceeding 40% for the conversion of NO3– to NH3 at neutral pH─significantly outperforming the CNF/CNT/Cu (<5%) and CNF/Cu (20%) configurations when deposited with equivalent amounts of Cu. The CNF/TiO2/Cu electrode also exhibited consistent and stable performance over the extended experimental duration (|Q| = 70 C), maintaining NH3 selectivity rates of over 50%. Tafel analysis and operando Raman spectroscopy suggest that TiO2 plays an active role in hydrogenating nitrogenous reduction products for enhanced selectivity. This research highlights the importance of electrode-catalyst selection in electrochemical NO3– reduction and identifies TiO2-containing electrodes as promising solutions in this domain.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Evaluating Copper-Modified Carbon Composite Nanofiber Electrodes for Electrocatalytic Nitrate Reduction
- Creators
- Ashley Hesterberg ButzlaffAbdulsattar H. GhanimYun Young ChoiChenxu YanXiaonan ShanNosang Vincent MyungCharles J. WerthDavid M. Cwiertny - University of IowaSyed Mubeen - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- ACS applied engineering materials, Vol.3(12), pp.4282-4295
- DOI
- 10.1021/acsaenm.5c00510
- ISSN
- 2771-9545
- eISSN
- 2771-9545
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society
- Grant note
- Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems: 1705255
This work was supported by the Process Systems, Reaction Engineering and Molecular Thermodynamics program of the National Science Foundation under the award numbers CBET-1706797 and 1705255. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Maksym Zhukovskyi of the University of Notre Dame Integrated Imaging Facility for assistance with (S)TEM image collection; the Materials Analysis, Testing, and Fabrication (MATFab) Facility at the University of Iowa for access to and use of the surface area and pore size analyzer; and the Central Microscopy Research Facility (CMRF) at the University of Iowa for access to and use of the scanning electron microscope.
- Language
- English
- Electronic publication date
- 11/21/2025
- Date published
- 12/26/2025
- Academic Unit
- Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination; Civil and Environmental Engineering; Chemistry; Chemical and Biochemical Engineering
- Record Identifier
- 9985035041502771
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