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Amorphizing of Au Nanoparticles by CeO x –RGO Hybrid Support towards Highly Efficient Electrocatalyst for N 2 Reduction under Ambient Conditions
Author(s) -
Li SiJia,
Bao Di,
Shi MiaoMiao,
Wulan BaRi,
Yan JunMin,
Jiang Qing
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.201700001
Subject(s) - materials science , electrocatalyst , catalysis , oxide , nanoparticle , chemical engineering , amorphous solid , nanotechnology , ammonia , yield (engineering) , metallurgy , electrochemistry , chemistry , crystallography , organic chemistry , electrode , engineering
Ammonia synthesis is one of the most kinetically complex and energetically challenging chemical processes in industry and has used the Harber–Bosch catalyst for over a century, which is processed under both harsh pressure (150–350 atm) and hightemperature (623–823 K), wherein the energy and capital intensive Harber–Bosch process has a huge energy cost accounting for about 1%–3% of human's energy consumption. Therefore, there has been a rough and vigorous exploration to find an environmentally benign alternative process. As the amorphous material is in a metastable state and has many “dangling bonds”, it is more active than the crystallized one. In this paper, CeO x ‐induced amorphization of Au nanoparticles anchored on reduced graphite oxide (a‐Au/CeO x –RGO) has been achieved by a facile coreduction method under ambient atmosphere. As a proof‐of‐concept experiment, a‐Au/CeO x –RGO hybrid catalyst containing the low noble metal (Au loading is 1.31 wt%) achieves a high Faradaic efficiency (10.10%) and ammonia yield (8.3 μg h −1 mg −1 cat . ) at −0.2 V versus RHE, which is significantly higher than that of the crystalline counterpart (c‐Au/RGO), and even comparable to the yields and efficiencies under harsh temperatures and/or pressures.