Highly boosted gas diffusion for enhanced electrocatalytic reduction of N to NH on 3D hollow Co-MoS nanostructures.

Nanoscale

Electrochemical Technology Center, Department of Chemistry, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada.

Published: March 2020

Transition metal chalcogenide MoS catalysts are highly selective for the electrochemical reduction of dinitrogen (N) to ammonia (NH) in aqueous electrolytes. However, due to the low solubility of N in water, limited N diffusion and mass transport have heavily restricted the yield and the faradaic efficiency (FE). Here, we have demonstrated a highly efficacious assembled gas diffusion cathode with hollow Co-MoS/N@C nanostructures to significantly improve the electrochemical reduction of N to NH. Our results revealed that the synthesized Co-MoS heterojunctions with abundant graphitic N groups exhibited a superb NH yield of 129.93 μg h mg and a high faradaic efficiency of 11.21% at -0.4 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), as well as excellent selectivity and stability. The strategy described in this study offers new inspiration to design high-performance electrocatalyst assemblies for the sustainable environmental and energy applications.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c9nr09624hDOI Listing

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