Engineered Electron-Deficient Sites at Boron-Doped Strontium Titanate/Electrolyte Interfaces Accelerate the Electrocatalytic Reduction of N to NH: A Combined DFT and Experimental Electrocatalysis Study.

The development of an efficient, selective, and durable catalysis system for the electrocatalytic N reduction reaction (ENRR) is a promising strategy for the sustainable production of ammonia. The high-performance ENRR is limited by two major challenges: poor adsorption of N over the catalyst surface and abysmal N solubility in aqueous electrolytes. Herein, with the help of our combined density functional theory (DFT) calculations and experimental electrocatalysis study, we demonstrate that concurrently induced electron-deficient Lewis acid sites in an electrocatalyst and in an electrolyte medium can significantly boost the ENRR performance.

Favoring Product Desorption by a Tailored Electronic Environment of Oxygen Vacancies in SrTiO via Cr Doping for Enhanced and Selective Electrocatalytic CO to CO Conversion.

The electrochemical CO reduction reaction (ECORR) into value-added products is crucial to address the herculean task of CO mitigation. Several efforts are being made to develop active ECORR catalysts, targeting enhanced CO adsorption and activation. A rational design of ECORR catalysts with a facile product desorption step is seldom reported.