Multi‐Metal Alloy Nanotubes with Sub‐1 Nm Wall Thickness for Efficient Inorganic and Organic Nitrogen Reduction

Abstract

Abstract The multi‐metal alloy (MMA) catalysts display exceptional multifunctional catalytic capabilities. However, it is still a great challenge to improve the catalytic performance by accurately synthesizing the morphology. Herein, we present a simple one‐pot method for designing and synthesizing the ultrathin MMA nanotube‐structured CuNiCoFeRu catalysts (CuNiCoFeRu UNT), which achieve unprecedented comprehensive performance in nitrate and nitrobenzene reduction. The MMA nanotube with sub‐1 nm wall thickness showed efficient mass transfer and nearly 100% surface exposure. Benefiting from high intrinsic activity enabled by the multi‐metal alloying effects, the CuNiCoFeRu UNT achieved as high as 98% NH 3 Faradaic efficiency (FE) and 6.8 mol h −1 g −1 cat. yield in the nitrate reduction, and as high as 99% selectivity with a yield of 16.4 mol h −1 g −1 cat. from nitrobenzene to aniline. High electron density and the synergistic effect among elements endow CuNiCoFeRu UNT with considerably enhanced nitrate and nitrobenzene reduction activity. This finding provides a highly efficient electrocatalyst for inorganic and organic nitrogen reduction. Furthermore, this synthetic strategy can be applied to other multi‐metal alloy nanotubes with ultrathin walls, including binary, ternary, quaternary, quinary and senary alloy structures, demonstrating that the synthetic route is a general and universal method for multi‐metal alloy nanotubes.