A CeP nanoparticle-reduced graphene oxide hybrid: an efficient electrocatalyst for the NH3 synthesis under ambient conditions

Abstract

The Haber Bosch industrial NH₃ production process has high energy consumption and severe CO₂ emission. Electrochemical N₂ reduction is an attractive method for the synthesis of carbon-neutral NH₃. However, since an efficient electrocatalyst is required to perform the N₂ reduction reaction (NRR) at room temperature, N₂ activation is a severe challenge. Herein, we report a CeP nanoparticle–reduced graphene oxide (CeP–rGO) hybrid as an effective electrocatalyst for NH₃ synthesis. In 0.1 M HCl, CeP–rGO achieves a large NH₃ yield of 28.69 μg h⁻¹ mg_cat.⁻¹ and a high faradaic efficiency of 9.6% at −0.40 V, and it also shows high electrochemical and structural stability. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that CeP can efficiently catalyze the synthesis of NH₃.