催化学报 ›› 2026, Vol. 89: 410-421.DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(26)65154-6

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基于电场可调机器学习势函数的氧化物衍生铜催化剂电化学氨合成研究

傅笑言a, 栾东a, 杨晨宇a,b, 肖建平a,b,*()   

  1. a中国科学院大连化学物理研究所,催化基础国家重点实验室,辽宁大连 116023
    b中国科学院大学能源学院,北京 100049
  • 收稿日期:2026-01-09 接受日期:2026-02-25 出版日期:2026-10-18 发布日期:2026-09-01
  • 通讯作者: *电子信箱: xiao@dicp.ac.cn (肖建平).
  • 基金资助:
    国家自然科学基金(22425207);国家自然科学基金(22172156);国家自然科学基金(22321002);国家重点研发计划(2021YFA1500702);国家重点研发计划(2022YFE0108000);国家重点研发计划(2023YFA1509103);榆林中科洁净能源创新研究院能源革命科技计划(YIICE E411050316);催化基础研究国家重点实验室(2024SKL-A-016);大连化学物理研究所(DICP I202314);大连化学物理研究所(DICP I202425)

Electrochemical ammonia synthesis over copper oxide derived catalysts studied by electric field dependent machine learning potential

Xiaoyan Fua, Dong Luana, Chenyu Yanga,b, Jianping Xiaoa,b,*()   

  1. aState Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, Liaoning, China
    bUniversity of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • Received:2026-01-09 Accepted:2026-02-25 Online:2026-10-18 Published:2026-09-01
  • Contact: *E-mail:xiao@dicp.ac.cn(J. Xiao).
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(22425207);National Natural Science Foundation of China(22172156);National Natural Science Foundation of China(22321002);National Key Research and Development Program of China(2021YFA1500702);National Key Research and Development Program of China(2022YFE0108000);National Key Research and Development Program of China(2023YFA1509103);Energy Revolution S&T Program of Yulin Innovation Institute of Clean Energy(YIICE E411050316);State Key Laboratory of Catalysis(2024SKL-A-016);Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics(DICP I202314);Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics(DICP I202425)

摘要:

电催化硝酸盐还原制氨(eNO3RR)可在温和条件下实现氨的绿色合成, 同时缓解水体硝酸盐污染, 具有重要的环境与能源意义. 传统的哈伯-博世法能耗高、碳排放量大, 而硝酸盐污染已成为全球性环境问题. 因此, 开发高效的eNO3RR过程既能实现硝酸盐的资源化利用, 又能为可持续氨合成提供新途径. 铜基催化剂因其优异的性能成为研究热点, 但CuO、Cu2O前驱体在反应条件下会发生动态结构演变, 其真实活性表面和催化机理尚不明确, 这严重阻碍了高效催化剂的理性设计.

本文首先开发了电场依赖的等变机器学习势场(eNequIP), 通过残差网络结构将电场信息以等变方式嵌入NequIP框架, 实现了对Cu-O体系在-0.75-0.75 V/Å电场范围内能量和受力的高精度预测, 计算速度较密度泛函理论提升约两个数量级. 基于此, 结合巨正则蒙特卡洛方法, 并采用动态自适应电场控制方案(由亥姆霍兹电容模型和实时预测的零电荷电势共同决定), 系统模拟了CuO(111), CuO(100), Cu2O(111)和Cu2O(100)表面在0--0.8 V vs. RHE电位范围和不同反应环境(有无硝酸根)下的恒电势还原过程. 广义配位数(GCN)分析表明, 不同初始表面还原后形成各异的活性位点分布: CuO(111)演变为缺陷四配位铜主导表面; CuO(100)形成缺陷三配位与四配位铜共存表面; Cu2O(111)被选择性还原为缺陷三配位铜主导表面; Cu2O(100)则形成完美三配位与缺陷四配位铜共存表面. 模拟结果与实验观察高度吻合, 如Cu2O(111)比Cu2O(100)更难深度还原, 以及环境能调控位点比例等. 进一步, 采用电场控制恒电势方法和微动力学建模, 系统研究了完美Cu(100)、完美Cu(111)、缺陷Cu(100)和缺陷Cu(111)四种位点上的eNO3RR反应网络(包含25个基元步骤). 揭示了产物选择性的决速步骤: NH3与HNO2的选择性由HNO2 NO*步骤的能垒决定, 作为竞争副反应的析氢反应(HER)活性由Volmer步骤主导. 计算结果表明, 缺陷三配位铜位点能有效降低HNO2 NO*转化及NHx*质子化步骤的能垒, 同时保持适中的HER活性, 展现出最优的氨选择性和本征活性. 结合还原后表面的实际位点分布(如还原CuO(111)以缺陷Cu(100)位点为主, 还原Cu2O(100)为缺陷Cu(100)和完美Cu(111)组合)模拟法拉第效率, 与实验结果高度吻合, 有力证实了Cu2O(111)晶面应为最优催化表面.

综上, 本工作发展的电场依赖机器学习势场方法为模拟复杂电化学界面过程开辟了新途径, 所揭示的缺陷三配位铜活性中心为理解氧化物衍生催化剂的构效关系提供了原子尺度见解. 未来, 将该方法扩展至包含溶剂和电解质离子的更真实模型, 有望实现电催化剂活性中心的理性设计与精准调控.

关键词: 密度泛函理论, 机器学习势函数, 恒电势模拟, 微观动力学, 表面演变, 合成氨

Abstract:

Recently, the electrocatalytic nitrate reduction to ammonia (eNO3RR) has become attractive as an alternative route for the green synthesis of ammonia at ambient conditions. However, the catalytic activity and selectivity of this process at low overpotentials is still low. Cu-based catalysts exhibit the best performances for eNO3RR among all catalysts. Moreover, copper oxide catalysts, which can undergo reduction during eNO3RR, display varied catalytic performances and facet-dependent behaviors. To elucidate the structural evolution and catalytic behavior of copper oxide electrodes, we developed an electric field-dependent equivariant machine learning potential (MLP) to simulate the evolution of electrode surfaces under electroreduction conditions. Grand Canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations were conducted to simulate the reduction of different copper oxide surfaces in reaction conditions. It was found the reduced surfaces from different oxide surfaces have different proportions of 3-fold copper and 4-fold copper active sites. Following that, the reaction mechanism of these active sites was addressed. The defective 3-fold copper sites show the best performance, indicating the Cu2O(111) surface, which can be selectively reduced into a 3-fold-copper dominated surface at reaction conditions, should have the best catalysis performance towards eNO3RR.

Key words: Density functional theory, Machine learning potential, Constant potential simulation, Microkinetic modeling, Surface evolution, Ammonia synthesis