A highly selective and active metal-free catalyst for ammonia production

Abstract

We report a facile surface-induced method for the in situ growth of single-/few-layered crystalline fluorographdiyne film on the surface of carbon fibers (cFGDY). The crystallized structure of cFGDY was directly confirmed by the scanning/transmission electron microscopy (SEM/TEM), high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) and computer simulation, selected area electron diffraction (SAED), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Raman spectroscopy. cFGDY showed a 9-fold stacking mode. Our results show that cFGDY is a metal-free electrocatalyst with unique structure and excellent performance for ammonia production from nitrogen and water efficiently at room temperature and ambient pressure, achieving a high NH₃ production rate and Faraday efficiency in neutral conditions. This work provides an efficient catalyst system with determined chemical and electronic structures for highly selective and active nitrogen reduction, serving as a promising platform towards the development of novel metal-free catalysts.