High-performance artificial nitrogen fixation at ambient conditions using a metal-free electrocatalyst

Weibin Qiu, Xiao-Ying Xie, Jianding Qiu, Wei-Hai Fang, Ruping Liang, Xiang Ren, Xuqiang Ji, Guanwei Cui, Abdullah M. Asiri, Ganglong Cui (), Bo Tang () and Xuping Sun ()
Additional contact information
Weibin Qiu: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Xiao-Ying Xie: Beijing Normal University
Jianding Qiu: Nanchang University
Wei-Hai Fang: Beijing Normal University
Ruping Liang: Nanchang University
Xiang Ren: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Xuqiang Ji: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Guanwei Cui: Shandong Normal University
Abdullah M. Asiri: King Abdulaziz University
Ganglong Cui: Beijing Normal University
Bo Tang: Shandong Normal University
Xuping Sun: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Conversion of naturally abundant nitrogen to ammonia is a key (bio)chemical process to sustain life and represents a major challenge in chemistry and biology. Electrochemical reduction is emerging as a sustainable strategy for artificial nitrogen fixation at ambient conditions by tackling the hydrogen- and energy-intensive operations of the Haber–Bosch process. However, it is severely challenged by nitrogen activation and requires efficient catalysts for the nitrogen reduction reaction. Here we report that a boron carbide nanosheet acts as a metal-free catalyst for high-performance electrochemical nitrogen-to-ammonia fixation at ambient conditions. The catalyst can achieve a high ammonia yield of 26.57 μg h–1 mg–1cat. and a fairly high Faradaic efficiency of 15.95% at –0.75 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode, placing it among the most active aqueous-based nitrogen reduction reaction electrocatalysts. Notably, it also shows high electrochemical stability and excellent selectivity. The catalytic mechanism is assessed using density functional theory calculations.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-05758-5 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-05758-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-05758-5

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().