Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, China;Green Catalysis Center and College of Chemistry, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China;The Key Laboratory of Life-Organic Analysis and Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Intermediates and Analysis of Natural Medicine,School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Qufu Normal University, Qufu 273165, China;School of Materials Science and Engineering, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China
Abstract:
To develop highly efficient electrochemical catalysts for N2 fixation is important to sustainable ambient NH3 production through the N2 reduction reaction (NRR). Herein, we demonstrate the development of vanadium phosphide nanoparticle on V foil as a high-efficiency and stable catalyst for ambient NH3 production with excellent selectivity. The high Faradaic efficiency of 22% with a large NH3 yield of 8.35 × 10−11 mol·s−1·cm−2 was obtained at 0 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode in acid solution, superior to all previously studied V-based NRR catalysts. Density functional theory calculations are also utilized to have an insight into the catalytic mechanism.