Efficient Electrochemical Nitrogen Fixation over Isolated Pt Sites
Ran Hao, Wenming Sun, Qian Liu, Xiaolu Liu, Jialiang Chen, Xian‐Wei Lv, Wei Li, Yuping Liu, Zhurui Shen
Abstract
Abstract Recently, ambient electrochemical N 2 fixation has gained great attention. However, the commercial Pt‐based electrocatalyst hardly shows its potential in this field. Herein, it is found that the isolated Pt sites anchored on WO 3 nanoplates exhibit the optimum electrochemical NH 3 yield rate (342.4 µg h −1 mg −1 Pt ) and Faradaic efficiency (31.1%) in 0.1 m K 2 SO 4 at −0.2 V versus RHE, which are about 11 and 15 times higher than their nanoparticle counterparts, respectively. The mechanistic analysis indicates that N 2 conversion to NH 3 follows an alternating hydrogenation pathway, and positively charged isolated Pt sites with special Pt−3O structure can favorably chemisorb and activate the N 2 . Furthermore, the hydrogen evolution reaction can be greatly suppressed on isolated Pt sites decorated WO 3 nanoplates, which guarantees the efficient going‐on of nitrogen reduction reaction.