Co-electrosynthesis of ammonia and formic acid over nitrogen-doped carbon-supported Bi2O3 and NiO catalysts

Coupling N 2 electroreduction with kinetically and/or thermodynamically favored oxidation reactions in one system can realize the co-production of NH 3 and value-added oxygen-containing fine chemicals at lower energy consumption. Here, a new N 2 electrolysis system based on nitrogen-doped carbon-supported Bi 2 O 3 and NiO catalysts (Bi 2 O 3 /NC and NiO/NC) is demonstrated, in which the methanol oxidation reaction in the anode to make formic acid is coupled with N 2 electroreduction for NH 3 . The optimal NH 3 yield of 2.79 \, μ g_ NH₃ \, h⁻¹ \, cm⁻² 2.79 μ g N H 3 h − 1 cm − 2 is achieved at the voltage of 2.35 V with a high Faradaic efficiency of 5.04%, surpassing the state-of-the-art reported N 2 reduction-methanol oxidation coupling electrocatalysis system. This study highlights the critical role of anode coupling strategy in enabling efficient electrochemical NH 3 synthesis.