N2 Electroreduction to NH3 by Selenium Vacancy-Rich ReSe2 Catalysis at an Abrupt Interface

Vacancy engineering has been proved repeatedly as an adoptable strategy to boost electrocatalysis, while its poor selectivity restricts the usage in nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) as overwhelming competition from hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Revealed by density functional theory calculations, the selenium vacancy in ReSe₂ crystal can enhance its electroactivity for both NRR and HER by shifting the d-band from −4.42 to −4.19 eV. To restrict the HER, we report a novel method by burying selenium vacancy-rich ReSe₂@carbonized bacterial cellulose (V_r-ReSe₂@CBC) nanofibers between two CBC layers, leading to boosted Faradaic efficiency of 42.5 % and ammonia yield of 28.3 μg h⁻¹ cm⁻² at a potential of −0.25 V on an abrupt interface. As demonstrated by the nitrogen bubble adhesive force, superhydrophilic measurements, and COMSOL Multiphysics simulations, the hydrophobic and porous CBC layers can keep the internal V_r-ReSe₂@CBC nanofibers away from water coverage, leaving more unoccupied active sites for the N₂ reduction (especially for the potential determining step of proton-electron coupling and transferring processes as *NN → *NNH).     

Vacancy Engineering of Iron‐Doped W18O49 Nanoreactors for Low‐Barrier Electrochemical Nitrogen Reduction

The electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) is a promising energy‐efficient and low‐emission alternative to the traditional Haber–Bosch process. Usually, the competing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the reaction barrier of ambient electrochemical NRR are significant challenges, making a simultaneous high NH₃ formation rate and high Faradic efficiency (FE) difficult. To give effective NRR electrocatalysis and suppressed HER, the surface atomic structure of W₁₈O₄₉, which has exposed active W sites and weak binding for H₂, is doped with Fe. A high NH₃ formation rate of 24.7 μg h^?1 mg_cat^?1 and a high FE of 20.0 % are achieved at an overpotential of only ?0.15 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode. Ab initio calculations reveal an intercalation‐type doping of Fe atoms in the tunnels of the W₁₈O₄₉ crystal structure, which increases the oxygen vacancies and exposes more W active sites, optimizes the nitrogen adsorption energy, and facilitates the electrocatalytic NRR.     

Pulsed Electrocatalysis Enabling High Overall Nitrogen Fixation Performance for Atomically Dispersed Fe on TiO2

Atomically dispersed Fe was designed on TiO₂ and explored as a Janus electrocatalyst for both nitrogen oxidation reaction (NOR) and nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) in a two-electrode system. Pulsed electrochemical catalysis (PE) was firstly involved to inhibit the competitive hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Excitingly, an unanticipated yield of 7055.81 μmol h⁻¹ g⁻¹_cat. and 12 868.33 μmol h⁻¹ g⁻¹_cat. were obtained for NOR and NRR at 3.5 V, respectively, 44.94 times and 7.8 times increase in FE than the conventional constant voltage electrocatalytic method. Experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that the single-atom Fe could stabilize the oxygen vacancy, lower the energy barrier for the vital rupture of N≡N, and result in enhanced N₂ fixation performance. More importantly, PE could effectively enhance the N₂ supply by reducing competitive O₂ and H₂ agglomeration, inhibit the electrocatalytic by-product formation for longstanding *OOH and *H intermediates, and promote the non-electrocatalytic process of N₂ activation.     

Nanoporous Palladium Hydride for Electrocatalytic N2 Reduction under Ambient Conditions

The electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) is an alternative eco‐friendly strategy for sustainable N₂ fixation with renewable energy. However, NRR suffers from sluggish kinetics owing to difficult N₂ adsorption and N≡N cleavage. Now, nanoporous palladium hydride is reported as electrocatalyst for electrochemical N₂ reduction under ambient conditions, achieving a high ammonia yield rate of 20.4 μg h^?1 mg^?1 with a Faradaic efficiency of 43.6 % at low overpotential of 150 mV. Isotopic hydrogen labeling studies suggest the involvement of lattice hydrogen atoms in the hydride as active hydrogen source. In situ Raman analysis and density functional theory (DFT) calculations further reveal the reduction of energy barrier for the rate‐limiting *N₂H formation step. The unique protonation mode of palladium hydride would provide a new insight on designing efficient and robust electrocatalysts for nitrogen fixation.     

A Janus Fe‐SnO2 Catalyst that Enables Bifunctional Electrochemical Nitrogen Fixation

Electrochemical N₂ reduction reactions (NRR) and the N₂ oxidation reaction (NOR), using H₂O and N₂, are a sustainable approach to N₂ fixation. To date, owing to the chemical inertness of nitrogen, emerging electrocatalysts for the electrochemical NRR and NOR at room temperature and atmospheric pressure remain largely underexplored. Herein, a new‐type Fe‐SnO₂ was designed as a Janus electrocatalyst for achieving highly efficient NRR and NOR catalysis. A high NH₃ yield of 82.7 μg h^?1 mg_cat.^?1 and a Faraday efficiency (FE) of 20.4 % were obtained for NRR. This catalyst can also serve as an excellent NOR electrocatalyst with a NO₃^? yields of 42.9 μg h^?1 mg_cat.^?1 and a FE of 0.84 %. By means of experiments and DFT calculations, it is revealed that the oxygen vacancy‐anchored single‐atom Fe can effectively adsorb and activate chemical inert N₂ molecules, lowering the energy barrier for the vital breakage of N≡N and resulting in the enhanced N₂ fixation performance.     

Greatly Improving Electrochemical N2 Reduction over TiO2 Nanoparticles by Iron Doping

Titanium‐based catalysts are needed to achieve electrocatalytic N₂ reduction to NH₃ with a large NH₃ yield and a high Faradaic efficiency (FE). One of the cheapest and most abundant metals on earth, iron, is an effective dopant for greatly improving the nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) performance of TiO₂ nanoparticles in ambient N₂‐to‐NH₃ conversion. In 0.5 m LiClO₄, Fe‐doped TiO₂ catalyst attains a high FE of 25.6 % and a large NH₃ yield of 25.47 μg h^?1 mg_cat^?1 at ?0.40 V versus a reversible hydrogen electrode. This performance compares favorably to those of all previously reported titanium‐ and iron‐based NRR electrocatalysts in aqueous media. The catalytic mechanism is further probed with theoretical calculations.     

ZIF‐Induced d‐Band Modification in a Bimetallic Nanocatalyst: Achieving Over 44 % Efficiency in the Ambient Nitrogen Reduction Reaction

The electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) offers a sustainable solution towards ammonia production but suffers poor reaction performance owing to preferential catalyst–H formation and the consequential hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Now, the Pt/Au electrocatalyst d‐band structure is electronically modified using zeolitic imidazole framework (ZIF) to achieve a Faradaic efficiency (FE) of >44 % with high ammonia yield rate of >161 μg mg_cat^?1 h^?1 under ambient conditions. The strategy lowers electrocatalyst d‐band position to weaken H adsorption and concurrently creates electron‐deficient sites to kinetically drive NRR by promoting catalyst–N₂ interaction. The ZIF coating on the electrocatalyst doubles as a hydrophobic layer to suppress HER, further improving FE by >44‐fold compared to without ZIF (ca. 1 %). The Pt/Au‐N_ZIF interaction is key to enable strong N₂ adsorption over H atom.     

Controlled Synthesis of a Vacancy‐Defect Single‐Atom Catalyst for Boosting CO2 Electroreduction

The reaction of precursors containing both nitrogen and oxygen atoms with Ni^II under 500 °C can generate a N/O mixing coordinated Ni‐N₃O single‐atom catalyst (SAC) in which the oxygen atom can be gradually removed under high temperature due to the weaker Ni?O interaction, resulting in a vacancy‐defect Ni‐N₃‐V SAC at Ni site under 800 °C. For the reaction of Ni^II with the precursor simply containing nitrogen atoms, only a no‐vacancy‐defect Ni‐N₄ SAC was obtained. Experimental and DFT calculations reveal that the presence of a vacancy‐defect in Ni‐N₃‐V SAC can dramatically boost the electrocatalytic activity for CO₂ reduction, with extremely high CO₂ reduction current density of 65 mA cm^?2 and high Faradaic efficiency over 90 % at ?0.9 V vs. RHE, as well as a record high turnover frequency of 1.35×10⁵ h^?1, much higher than those of Ni‐N₄ SAC, and being one of the best reported electrocatalysts for CO₂‐to‐CO conversion to date.     

An Amorphous Noble‐Metal‐Free Electrocatalyst that Enables Nitrogen Fixation under Ambient Conditions

N₂ fixation by the electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) under ambient conditions is regarded as a potential approach to achieve NH₃ production, which still heavily relies on the Haber–Bosch process at the cost of huge energy and massive production of CO₂. A noble‐metal‐free Bi₄V₂O₁₁/CeO₂ hybrid with an amorphous phase (BVC‐A) is used as the cathode for electrocatalytic NRR. The amorphous Bi₄V₂O₁₁ contains significant defects, which play a role as active sites. The CeO₂ not only serves as a trigger to induce the amorphous structure, but also establishes band alignment with Bi₄V₂O₁₁ for rapid interfacial charge transfer. Remarkably, BVC‐A shows outstanding electrocatalytic NRR performance with high average yield (NH₃: 23.21 μg h^?1 mg^?1_cat., Faradaic efficiency: 10.16 %) under ambient conditions, which is superior to the Bi₄V₂O₁₁/CeO₂ hybrid with crystalline phase (BVC‐C) counterpart.     

Surface‐Regulated Rhodium–Antimony Nanorods for Nitrogen Fixation

Surface regulation is an effective strategy to improve the performance of catalysts, but it has been rarely demonstrated for nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) to date. Now, surface‐rough Rh₂Sb nanorod (RNR) and surface‐smooth Rh₂Sb NR (SNR) were selectively created, and their performance for NRR was investigated. The high‐index‐facet bounded Rh₂Sb RNRs/C exhibit a high NH₃ yield rate of 228.85±12.96 μg h^?1 mg^?1_Rh at ?0.45 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), outperforming the Rh₂Sb SNRs/C (63.07±4.45 μg h^?1 mg^?1_Rh) and Rh nanoparticles/C (22.82±1.49 μg h^?1 mg^?1_Rh), owing to the enhanced adsorption and activation of N₂ on high‐index facets. Rh₂Sb RNRs/C also show durable stability with negligible activity decay after 10 h of successive electrolysis. The present work demonstrates that surface regulation plays an important role in promoting NRR activity and provides a new strategy for creating efficient NRR electrocatalysts.     

Enzyme Mimetic Active Intermediates for Nitrate Reduction in Neutral Aqueous Media

Nitrate is a pervasive aquatic contaminant of global environmental concern. In nature, the most effective nitrate reduction reaction (NRR) is catalyzed by nitrate reductase enzymes at neutral pH, using a highly‐conserved Mo center ligated mainly by oxo and thiolate groups. Mo‐based NRR catalysts mostly function in organic solvents with a low water stability. Recently, an oxo‐containing molybdenum sulfide nanoparticle that serves as an NRR catalyst at neutral pH was first reported. Herein, in a nanoparticle‐catalyzed NRR system a pentavalent Mo^V(=O)S₄ species, an enzyme mimetic, served as an active intermediate for the NRR. Potentiometric titration analysis revealed that a redox synergy among Mo^V?S, S radicals, and Mo^V(=O)S₄ likely play a key role in stabilizing Mo^V(=O)S₄, showing the importance of secondary interactions in facilitating NRR. The first identification and characterization of an oxo‐ and thiolate‐ligated Mo intermediates pave the way to the molecular design of efficient enzyme mimetic NRR catalysts in aqueous solution.     

Defect Engineering Metal‐Free Polymeric Carbon Nitride Electrocatalyst for Effective Nitrogen Fixation under Ambient Conditions

Electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) under ambient conditions provides an intriguing picture for the conversion of N₂ into NH₃. However, electrocatalytic NRR mainly relies on metal‐based catalysts, and it remains a grand challenge in enabling effective N₂ activation on metal‐free catalysts. Here we report a defect engineering strategy to realize effective NRR performance (NH₃ yield: 8.09 μg h^?1 mg^?1_cat., Faradaic efficiency: 11.59 %) on metal‐free polymeric carbon nitride (PCN) catalyst. Illustrated by density functional theory calculations, dinitrogen molecule can be chemisorbed on as‐engineered nitrogen vacancies of PCN through constructing a dinuclear end‐on bound structure for spatial electron transfer. Furthermore, the N?N bond length of adsorbed N₂ increases dramatically, which corresponds to “strong activation” system to reduce N₂ into NH₃. This work also highlights the significance of defect engineering for improving electrocatalysts with weak N₂ adsorption and activation ability.     

Carbon‐Nanoplated CoS@TiO2 Nanofibrous Membrane: An Interface‐Engineered Heterojunction for High‐Efficiency Electrocatalytic Nitrogen Reduction

Developing noble‐metal‐free electrocatalysts is important to industrially viable ammonia synthesis through the nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR). However, the present transition‐metal electrocatalysts still suffer from low activity and Faradaic efficiency due to poor interfacial reaction kinetics. Herein, an interface‐engineered heterojunction, composed of CoS nanosheets anchored on a TiO₂ nanofibrous membrane, is developed. The TiO₂ nanofibrous membrane can uniformly confine the CoS nanosheets against agglomeration, and contribute substantially to the NRR performance. The intimate coupling between CoS and TiO₂ enables easy charge transfer, resulting in fast reaction kinetics at the heterointerface. The conductivity and structural integrity of the heterojunction are further enhanced by carbon nanoplating. The resulting C@CoS@TiO₂ electrocatalyst achieves a high ammonia yield (8.09×10^?10 mol s^?1 cm^?2) and Faradaic efficiency (28.6 %), as well as long‐term durability.     

Crystal‐Phase‐Engineered PdCu Electrocatalyst for Enhanced Ammonia Synthesis

Crystal phase engineering is a powerful strategy for regulating the performance of electrocatalysts towards many electrocatalytic reactions, while its impact on the nitrogen electroreduction has been largely unexplored. Herein, we demonstrate that structurally ordered body‐centered cubic (BCC) PdCu nanoparticles can be adopted as active, selective, and stable electrocatalysts for ammonia synthesis. Specifically, the BCC PdCu exhibits excellent activity with a high NH₃ yield of 35.7 μg h^?1 mg^?1_cat, Faradaic efficiency of 11.5 %, and high selectivity (no N₂H₄ is detected) at ?0.1 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode, outperforming its counterpart, face‐centered cubic (FCC) PdCu, and most reported nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) electrocatalysts. It also exhibits durable stability for consecutive electrolysis for five cycles. Density functional theory calculation reveals that strong orbital interactions between Pd and neighboring Cu sites in BCC PdCu obtained by structure engineering induces an evident correlation effect for boosting up the Pd 4d electronic activities for efficient NRR catalysis. Our findings open up a new avenue for designing active and stable electrocatalysts towards NRR.     

Amorphous core/shell Ti-doped SnO2 with synergistically improved N2 adsorption/activation and electrical conductivity for electrochemical N2 reduction

Electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) has been considered as an appealing and sustainable method to produce ammonia from N₂ under ambient conditions, attracting increasing interest. Limited by low solubility of N₂ in water and high stability of NN triple bond, developing NRR electrocatalysts with both strong N₂ adsorption/activation and high electrical conductivity remain challenging. Here, we demonstrate an efficient strategy to develop NRR electrocatalyst with synergistically enhanced N₂ adsorption/activation and electrical conductivity by heteroatom doping. Combining computational and experimental study, the DFT-designed Ti-doped SnO₂ exhibits significantly enhanced NRR performance with ammonia yield rate of 13.09 µg h^?1 mg^?1 at ?0.2 V vs. RHE. Particularly, the Faradaic efficiency reaches up to 42.6%, outperforming most of Sn-based electrocatalysts. The fundamental mechanism for improving NRR performance of SnO₂ by Ti doping is also revealed. Our work highlights a powerful strategy for developing high-activity electrocatalysts for NRR and beyond.     

Activation of MoS2 Basal Planes for Hydrogen Evolution by Zinc

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) has been widely studied as a potential earth‐abundant electrocatalyst for the hydrogen‐evolution reaction (HER). Defect engineering and heteroelemental doping are effective methods to enhance the catalytic activity in the HER, so exploring an efficient route to simultaneously achieve in‐plane vacancy engineering and elemental doping of MoS₂ is necessary. In this study, Zinc, a low‐cost and moderately active metal, has been used to realize this strategy by generation of sulfur vacancies and zinc doping on MoS₂ in one step. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the zinc atoms not only lower the formation energy of S vacancies, but also help to decrease ΔG_H of S‐vacancy sites near the Zn atoms. At an optimal zinc‐reduced MoS₂ (Zn@MoS₂) example, the activated basal planes contribute to the HER activity with an overpotential of ?194 mV at 10 mA cm^?2 and a low Tafel slope of 78 mV/dec.     

A Spectroscopic Study of Electrochemical Nitrogen and Nitrate Reduction on Rhodium Surfaces

Rh is a promising electrocatalyst for the nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) given its suitable nitrogen‐adsorption energy and low overpotential. However, the NRR pathway on Rh surfaces remains unknown. In this study, we employ surface‐enhanced infrared‐absorption spectroscopy (SEIRAS) and differential electrochemical mass spectrometry (DEMS) to study the reaction mechanism of NRR on Rh. N₂H_x (0≤x≤2) is detected with a N=N stretching mode at ≈2020 cm^?1 by SEIRAS and a signal at m/z=29 by DEMS. A new two‐step reaction pathway on Rh surfaces is proposed that involves an electrochemical process with a two‐electron transfer to form N₂H₂ and its subsequent decomposition in the electrolyte producing NH₃. Our results also indicate that nitrate reduction and the NRR share the same reaction intermediate N₂H_x.     

Unifying the Nitrogen Reduction Activity of Anatase and Rutile TiO2 Surfaces

TiO₂ is a model transition metal oxide that has been applied frequently in both photocatalytic and electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reactions (NRR). However, the phase which is more NRR active still remains a puzzle. This work presents a theoretical study on the NRR activity of the (001), (100), (101), and (110) surfaces of both anatase and rutile TiO₂. We found that perfect surfaces are not active for NRR, while the oxygen vacancy can promote the reaction by providing excess electrons and low-coordinated Ti atoms that enhance the binding of the key intermediate (HNN*). The NRR activity of the eight facets can be unified into a single scaling line. The anatase TiO₂(101) and rutile TiO₂(101) surfaces were found to be the most and the second most active surfaces with a limiting potential of −0.91 V and −0.95 V respectively, suggesting that the TiO₂ NRR activity is not very phase-sensitive. For photocatalytic NRR, the results suggest that the anatase TiO₂(101) surface is still the most active facet. We further found that the binding strength of key intermediates scale well with the formation energy of oxygen vacancy, which is determined by the oxygen coordination number and the degree of relaxation of the surface after the creation of oxygen vacancy. This work provides a comprehensive understanding of the activity of TiO₂ surfaces. The results should be helpful for the design of more efficient TiO₂-based NRR catalysts.     

Ammonia Synthesis Under Ambient Conditions: Selective Electroreduction of Dinitrogen to Ammonia on Black Phosphorus Nanosheets

Constructing efficient catalysts for the N₂ reduction reaction (NRR) is a major challenge for artificial nitrogen fixation under ambient conditions. Herein, inspired by the principle of “like dissolves like”, it is demonstrated that a member of the nitrogen family, well‐exfoliated few‐layer black phosphorus nanosheets (FL‐BP NSs), can be used as an efficient nonmetallic catalyst for electrochemical nitrogen reduction. The catalyst can achieve a high ammonia yield of 31.37 μg h^?1 mg^?1_cat. under ambient conditions. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the active orbital and electrons of zigzag and diff‐zigzag type edges of FL‐BP NSs enable selective electrocatalysis of N₂ to NH₃ via an alternating hydrogenation pathway. This work proves the feasibility of using a nonmetallic simple substance as a nitrogen‐fixing catalyst and thus opening a new avenue towards the development of more efficient metal‐free catalysts.