Vanadium-doped NiS2 porous nanospheres with high selectivity and stability for the electroreduction of nitrogen to ammonia

Abstract

In comparison with the traditional Haber–Bosch process, the electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) with high purity and sustainability became a popular process to satisfy the demand of ammonia. However, the strong competing reaction (hydrogen evolution reaction, HER) and low reaction efficiency hinder the practical applications of NRR. Thus, the development of advanced NRR catalysts by regulating the electronic structure and the activity of single active sites is urgent. Here, in our study, vanadium-doped NiS₂ (V–NiS₂) nanospheres with abundant active sites were first proposed in the NRR field, which exhibited excellent catalytic activity with a high NH₃ yield (47.63 μg h⁻¹ mg⁻¹_cat., at −0.45 V) and good faradaic efficiency (FE) (9.37% at −0.35 V) in a 0.1 M HCl solution. Moreover, V–NiS₂ also performed desired selectivity and stability. This study provides a pathway to design advanced NRR catalysts for practical applications.