Self-supported cuprous oxide/graphdiyne nanosheets array for efficient ammonia synthesis

Electrocatalytic reduction of nitrates plays a crucial role in ammonia (NH 3 ) production. In this study, a novel cuprous oxide/graphdiyne (Cu 2 O/GDY) electrocatalyst was synthesized by growing Cu 2 O/GDY on a Cu substrate with a porous architecture capable of increasing the number of active sites and enhancing mass transfer ability. The sp-C–Cu bonds between Cu 2 O and GDY facilitate rapid charge transfer and promote direct electron transport from active sites to reaction intermediates. Consequently, the electrocatalyst exhibits high NH 3 production performance with a yield rate (Y NH 3 ) of 652.82 µmol h − 1 cm − 2 and Faradaic efficiency of 82.98% at −1.8 V (vs. SCE) under ambient conditions in an aqueous solution. This work introduces a novel and efficient approach for the in situ fabrication of self-supported heterostructures, thereby enabling high-performance ammonia production under ambient conditions.