Enhancing Electrocatalytic N2 Reduction to NH3 by CeO2 Nanorod with Oxygen Vacancies

As a sustainable and environmentally friendly route, electrochemical N 2 reduction has been expected to replace the traditional N 2 fixation process of Haber–Bosch, which is energy-consuming and capital-intensive. In this work, we demonstrate that CeO 2 nanorod with oxygen vacancies achieves a great enhancement for NRR with excellent selectivity and stability. Such electrocatalyst delivers NH 3 yield of 16.4 μg h –1 mg –1 cat. at −0.5 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) and Faradaic efficiency of 3.7% at −0.4 V vs RHE using aqueous 0.1 M Na 2 SO 4 electrolyte, higher than that of pristine CeO 2 counterpart (5.4 μg h –1 mg –1 cat.; 2.1%).