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Single‐Site Gold Catalysts on Hierarchical N‐Doped Porous Noble Carbon for Enhanced Electrochemical Reduction of Nitrogen
Author(s) -
Qin Qing,
Heil Tobias,
Antonietti Markus,
Oschatz Martin
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
small methods
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.66
H-Index - 46
ISSN - 2366-9608
DOI - 10.1002/smtd.201800202
Subject(s) - faraday efficiency , reversible hydrogen electrode , electrochemistry , catalysis , yield (engineering) , oxidizing agent , carbon fibers , nitrogen , materials science , noble metal , inorganic chemistry , ammonia , chemical engineering , ammonia production , redox , chemistry , electrode , working electrode , organic chemistry , metallurgy , composite material , composite number , engineering
Electrocatalytic reduction of nitrogen (N 2 ) at ambient conditions is an alternative strategy to produce ammonia (NH 3 ) to complement the commonly applied Haber–Bosch process. However, the achievement of high Faradaic efficiencies and high NH 3 yield is still challenging. Here, Au single sites stabilized on N‐doped porous and highly oxidizing (“noble”) carbon catalysts showing excellent performance in N 2 electroreduction are reported. At a potential of −0.2 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode, a stable NH 3 yield of 2.32 µg h −1 cm −2 is produced at a Faradaic efficiency of 12.3%. Besides, there is no notable fluctuation of Faradaic efficiency and NH 3 yield in six‐cycle test, which indicates good stability. This work opens up new insights to improve N 2 fixation performance by introducing catalytically active single sites into noble carbon materials for N 2 electroreduction.