Nitric Oxide Reduction to Ammonia by TiO 2 Electrons in Colloid Solution via Consecutive One-Electron Transfer Steps
The reaction mechanism of nitric oxide (NO) reduction by excess electrons on TiO 2 nanoparticles (e TiO2 – ) has been studied under anaerobic conditions. TiO 2 was loaded with 10–130 electrons per particle using γ-irradiation of acidic TiO 2 colloid solutions containing 2-propanol. The study is based on time-resolved kinetics and reactants and products analysis. The reduction of NO by e TiO2 – is interpreted in terms of competition between a reaction path leading to formation of NH 3 and a path leading to N 2 O and N 2 . The proposed mechanism involves consecutive one-electron transfers of NO, and its reduction intermediates HNO, NH 2 O•, and NH 2 OH. The results show that e TiO2 – does not reduce N 2 O and N 2 . Second-order rate constants of e TiO2 – reactions with NO (740 ± 30 M –1 s –1 ) and NH 2 OH (270 ± 30 M –1 s –1 ) have been determined employing the rapid-mixing stopped-flow technique and that with HNO (>1.3 × 10 6 M –1 s –1 ) was derived from fitting the kinetic traces to the suggested reaction mechanism, which is discussed in detail.