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The electrochemical reduction of N2 into NH3 production under ambient conditions represents an attractive prospect for the fixation of N2 . However, this process suffers from low yield rate of NH3 over reported electrocatalysts. In this work, a record-high activity for N2 electrochemical reduction over Ru single atoms distributed on nitrogen-doped carbon (Ru SAs/N-C) is reported. At -0.2 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode, Ru SAs/N-C achieves a Faradaic efficiency of 29.6% for NH3 production with partial current density of -0.13 mA cm-2 . Notably, the yield rate of Ru SAs/N-C reaches 120.9 μgNH3 mgcat.-1 h-1, which is one order of magnitude higher than the highest value ever reported. This work not only develops a superior electrocatalyst for NH3 production, but also provides a guideline for the rational design of highly active and robust single-atom catalysts.
Geng et al. (2018) studied this question.