Electrochemical reduction is an eco-friendly alternative for energy-saving artificial N2 fixation. The development of this process requires efficient N2 reduction reaction (NRR) electrocatalysts to overcome the challenge with N2 activation.… Click to show full abstract
Electrochemical reduction is an eco-friendly alternative for energy-saving artificial N2 fixation. The development of this process requires efficient N2 reduction reaction (NRR) electrocatalysts to overcome the challenge with N2 activation. We show that a Cr2O3 nanoparticle-reduced graphene oxide hybrid (Cr2O3-rGO) is as an outstanding catalyst for electrochemical N2-to-NH3 conversion under ambient conditions. In 0.1 M HCl, Cr2O3-rGO achieves a high NH3 yield of 33.3 μg h-1 mg-1cat. at -0.7 V vs RHE and a high Faradaic efficiency of 7.33% at -0.6 V vs RHE, with excellent selectivity for NH3 synthesis and stability. Density functional theory calculations were executed to gain further insight into the mechanisms.
               
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