Surface hydrogen migration significantly promotes electroreduction of acetonitrile to ethylamine

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 16; no. 1; pp. 2236 - 10
• Main Authors: Tang, Yulong, Li, Jiejie, Lin, Yichao, Cheng, Moxing, Wang, Shuibo, Tian, Ziqi, Zhou, Junjie, Zhang, Haolei, Wang, Yunan, Chen, Liang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 06.03.2025; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 140/131; 140/133; 140/146; 147/135; 147/143; 639/301/299; 639/638/161; 639/638/161/886; Acetonitrile; Chemical reduction; Copper; Copper oxides; Electrochemistry; Electron transfer; Heterostructures; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hydrogen; Hydrogen evolution reactions; Hydrogenation; multidisciplinary; Organic chemistry; Protons; Science; Science (multidisciplinary)

The electrochemical reduction of acetonitrile (AN) to ethylamine (EA) is an attractive yet challenging process, primarily due to the competing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). This study demonstrates the ability to halt the HER at Volmer step, where protons migrate to the unsaturated bond of AN on...