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A Generalized Surface Chalcogenation Strategy for Boosting the Electrochemical N 2 Fixation of Metal Nanocrystals
Author(s) -
Yang Chengyong,
Huang Bolong,
Bai Shuxing,
Feng Yonggang,
Shao Qi,
Huang Xiaoqing
Publication year - 2020
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.202001267
Subject(s) - materials science , redox , nanocrystal , electrochemistry , metal , valence (chemistry) , dissociation (chemistry) , nanotechnology , catalysis , electron transfer , reversible hydrogen electrode , chemical engineering , chemical physics , photochemistry , chemistry , electrode , biochemistry , organic chemistry , engineering , metallurgy , reference electrode
Electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) is a promising process relative to energy‐intensive Haber–Bosch process. While conventional electrocatalysts underperform with sluggish paths, achieving dissociation of N 2 brings the key challenge for enhancing NRR. This study proposes an effective surface chalcogenation strategy to improve the NRR performance of pristine metal nanocrystals (NCs). Surprisingly, the NH 3 yield and Faraday efficiency (FE) (175.6 ± 23.6 mg h –1 g –1 Rh and 13.3 ± 0.4%) of Rh‐Se NCs is significantly enhanced by 16 and 15 times, respectively. Detailed investigations show that the superior activity and high FE are attributed to the effect of surface chalcogenation, which not only can decrease the apparent activation energy, but also inhibit the occurrence of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) process. Theoretical calculations reveal that the strong interface strain effect within core@shell system induces a critical redox inversion, resulting in a rather low valence state of Rh and Se surface sites. Such strong correlation indicates an efficient electron‐transfer minimizing NRR barrier. Significantly, the surface chalcogenation strategy is general, which can extend to create other NRR metal electrocatalysts with enhanced performance. This strategy open a new avenue for future NH 3 production for breakthrough in the bottleneck of NRR.