Tuning Morphology and Electronic Structure of Amorphous NiFeB Nanosheets for Enhanced Electrocatalytic N<sub>2</sub> Reduction
Yan Wang, Yujing Tian, Jianfang Zhang, Cuiping Yu, Rui Cai, Jiarui Wang, Yong Zhang, Jingjie Wu, Yucheng Wu
Abstract
The electrocatalytic N2 reduction reaction (NRR) is regarded as a promising alternative to the industrial Haber–Bosch process for NH3 synthesis at ambient conditions. Here, we report the unique amorphous NiFeB nanosheets for boosting the electrocatalytic NRR kinetics by tuning their morphology and electronic structure through adjusting the Ni/Fe/B ratio. The combined merits of an amorphous nanostructure, an optimized ratio of Ni/Fe/B, and a high boron content in ultrathin Ni0.50Fe0.50B nanosheets provide abundant synergistic active sites and facilitate the N2 adsorption capacity, thus resulting in the enhanced NRR activity with a high NH3 formation rate of 3.24 μg h–1 cm–2 and a Faradaic efficiency of 3.19% at −0.30 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode in 0.1 M KOH aqueous solution.