Metal–metalloid alloys: mesoporous Rh–Te films for electrocatalytic nitrogen fixation

Abstract

Electrochemical ammonia synthesis via the nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) has received abundant attention, but a high nitrogen activation barrier and the competitive hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) heavily limit its performance. Herein, mesoporous Rh–Te alloy films directly grown on carbon paper (mRhTe/CP) are synthesized via a micelle-assisted electrodeposition method. mRhTe/CP demonstrates superior NRR performance, with an NH₃ yield of 41.7 μg h⁻¹ mg_cat.⁻¹ and a Faraday efficiency of 20.4%. The improved NRR performance is attributed to an interconnected porous structure that provides ample active sites for the reaction and the introduction of Te that enhances nitrogen adsorption energy and suppresses the HER simultaneously. The work reports a convenient route for the deliberate synthesis of self-supporting mesoporous metal–metalloid alloy nanomaterials for nitrogen electroreduction to ammonia.