Recently, Dr. Li Minzhang, a specially appointed associate researcher from Professor Chen Fuming's team at the School of Electronic Science and Engineering (School of Microelectronics), Faculty of Engineering, South China Normal University, has made significant progress in fast seawater desalination driven by nitrate reduction. The related findings, entitled "Fast Seawater Desalination Driven by Efficient Nitrate Reduction via Bimetallic Iron/Zinc Polyphthalocyanine Frameworks," have been published in the renowned international academic journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition.Dr. Li Minzhang and Master's student Wang Wei are co-first authors of the paper. Professor Chen Fuming from South China Normal University, Associate Researcher Guo Lu from Yunnan University, and Professor Chen Yuan from the University of Sydney, Australia, serve as co-corresponding authors. South China Normal University is the first completing institution.

Freshwater scarcity and nitrate pollution in water sources represent critical challenges to environmental sustainability. This study addresses both issues by coupling seawater desalination with nitrate reduction reaction (NO3RR) driven by bimetallic Fe/Zn polyphthalocyanine framework materials. As an efficient NO3RR catalyst, this material selectively reduces nitrate to ammonia (NH3). By further integrating NO3RR into an electrocatalytic desalination device, the system simultaneously produces freshwater from seawater and removes nitrate from contaminated water while generating valuable NH3. In situ spectroscopic studies and theoretical calculations reveal that the introduced Zn-N4 units in the Fe polyphthalocyanine framework modulate the d-band center of Fe-N4 sites, thereby enhancing NO3− adsorption and *H generation. This results in a 3.22-fold increase in turnover frequency (TOF) and enables highly selective NH3 production. The optimized Fe8Zn1PPc catalyst achieves over 97% Faradaic efficiency for NH3 across a broad potential range (−0.55 to −0.95 V vs. RHE), with an NH3 production rate of 2.68 mmol h−1 cm−2 at −0.85 V vs. RHE. The catalyst maintains stable operation for over 120 hours, outperforming previously reported Fe-based NO3RR catalysts. The desalination device demonstrates a salt removal rate of 1326.92 µg cm−2 min−1, the highest among currently reported desalination methods. Successful testing achieved potable water standards (99% ion removal) from natural seawater over 10 consecutive cycles. This research provides an innovative solution for sustainable water treatment and desalination.

Since joining South China Normal University in September 2022 as a specially appointed associate researcher, Dr. Li Minzhang has published multiple SCI papers as first author or corresponding author in renowned journals including Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Journal of Cleaner Production, Desalination, and ChemSusChem. His research work has been supported by various funding programs, including the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, National Foreign Expert Program (Category Y), and the Young Faculty Cultivation Fund of South China Normal University.

Link: https://url.scnu.edu.cn/record/view/index.html?key=55a66056c18c898baeb8750424a3a848