Boosting Electroreduction Kinetics of Nitrogen to Ammonia via Atomically Dispersed Sn Protuberance
Lijuan Zhang, Hanfeng Zhou, Xiaoju Yang, Shengbo Zhang, Haimin Zhang, Xuan Yang, Xintai Su, Jiangwei Zhang, Zhang Lin
Abstract
Abstract Atomically dispersed metal catalysts show potential advantages in N 2 reduction reaction (NRR) due to their excellent activity and efficient metal utilization. Unfortunately, the reported catalysts usually exhibit unsatisfactory NRR activity due to their poor N 2 adsorption and activation. Herein, we report a novel Sn atomically dispersed protuberance (ADP) by coordination with substrate C and O to induce positive charge accumulation on Sn site for improving its N 2 adsorption, activation and NRR performance. The extended X‐ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectra confirmed the local coordination structure of the Sn ADPs. NRR activity was significantly promoted via Sn ADPs, exhibiting a remarkable NH 3 yield ( R NH3 ) of 28.3 μg h −1 mg cat −1 (7447 μg h −1 mg Sn −1 ) at −0.3 V. Furthermore, the enhanced N 2 H x intermediates was verified by in situ experiments, yielding consistent results with DFT calculation. This work opens a new avenue to regulate the activity and selectivity of N 2 fixation.