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

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 Faradaic efficiency (FE) and 6.8 mol h g yield in the nitrate reduction, and as high as 99% selectivity with a yield of 16.4 mol h g 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.