An amorphous WC thin film enabled high-efficiency N2 reduction electrocatalysis under ambient conditions

Shaoxiong Li; Yonglan Luo; Luchao Yue; Tingshuai Li; Yan Wang; Qian Liu; Guanwei Cui; Fang Zhang; Abdullah M. Asiri; Xuping Sun

doi:10.1039/D1CC03139B

An amorphous WC thin film enabled high-efficiency N₂ reduction electrocatalysis under ambient conditions†

Shaoxiong Li,^a Yonglan Luo,

*^a Luchao Yue,^b Tingshuai Li,^b Yan Wang,^b Qian Liu,

*^c Guanwei Cui,^d Fang Zhang,^e Abdullah M. Asiri

^f and Xuping Sun

*^b

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a Chemical Synthesis and Pollution Control Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, School of Chemistry and Chemical engineering, China West Normal University, Nanchong 637002, Sichuan, China
E-mail: luoylcwnu@hotmail.com

^b Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, Sichuan, China
E-mail: xpsun@uestc.edu.cn

^c Institute for Advanced Study, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, Sichuan, China
E-mail: liuqian@cdu.edu.cn

^d College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Shandong Normal University, Jinan 250014, Shandong, China

^e National Engineering Research Center for Nanotechnology, No. 28 East Jiang Chuan Road, Shanghai 200241, China

^f Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science & Center of Excellence for Advanced Materials Research, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80203, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Ambient electrochemical N₂ reduction offers a promising alternative to the energy-intensive Haber–Bosch process towards renewable NH₃ synthesis in aqueous media but needs efficient electrocatalysts to enable the N₂ reduction reaction (NRR). Herein, we propose that an amorphous WC thin film magnetron sputtered onto a graphite foil behaves as a superb NRR electrocatalyst for ambient NH₃ production with excellent selectivity. In 0.5 M LiClO₄, it attains a large NH₃ yield of 43.37 μg h⁻¹ mg⁻¹_cat. and a high faradaic efficiency of 21.65% at −0.10 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode. Impressively, this catalyst also shows excellent selectivity and strong durability for NH₃ formation.

This article is part of the themed collection: Nanoscale Horizons, Nanoscale, and ChemComm: Nanocatalysis

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An amorphous WC thin film enabled high-efficiency N₂ reduction electrocatalysis under ambient conditions†

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An amorphous WC thin film enabled high-efficiency N₂ reduction electrocatalysis under ambient conditions

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