An MOF-derived C@NiO@Ni electrocatalyst for N₂conversion to NH₃in alkaline electrolytes

Abstract

MOF-derived C@NiO@Ni are proposed as an efficient electrocatalyst for N2 reduction reaction in alkaline media. Abundant oxygen vacancies and NiO/Ni interfaces can act as active sites for adsorbing nitrogen and proton, respectively.

Recent Advances in Noble‐Metal‐Free Catalysts for Electrocatalytic Synthesis of Ammonia under Ambient Conditions

“…Recently, Luo et al. found that MOF‐derived C@NiO@Ni microtubes (Figure a,3b) perform well in NRR, reaching both a high NH 3 yield rate of 43.15 μg h −1 mg cat −1 and a FE of 10.9% at −0.7 V (Figure c) …”

“…[70] Five prototypical MOFs, Fe based-ZIF-8(Fe), [71] Co-based ZIF-67(Co), [72] PCN-222(Fe), [73] Cu II À MOF, [74] HKUST-1 (Cu-benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylate) [75] were investigated, demonstrating the highest performance with NH 3 [76] Recently, Luo et al found that MOF-derived C@NiO@Ni microtubes (Figure 3a,3b) perform well in NRR, reaching both a high NH 3 yield rate of 43.15 μg h À 1 mg cat À 1 and a FE of 10.9% at À 0.7 V (Figure 3c). [77] The rich 3D interconnected porous structure of MOFs is conducive to the enrichment and diffusion of reactant nitrogen molecules, and a large number of atomic distribution metal ions as a Lewis acid in MOFs is considered as the active sites, which can withdraw p electrons from N 2 molecules and weaken the N � N bonds. However, no other MOFs for electrochemical NRR have been reported so far, and in particular, MOFs with high conductivity as well as water stability are one of the development directions in future studies.…”

“…(b) TEM images of C@NiO@Ni. (c) NH 3 yields and FEs of C@NiO@Ni for NRR at various potentials.Copyright 2020 The Royal Society of Chemistry [77]…”

Metal–organic framework derived nanomaterials for electrocatalysis: recent developments for CO2 and N2 reduction

“…Interestingly, it was found that a synergetic effect between the N-doped carbon and Co 3 O 4 accounts for the good NRR activity, resulting in FE of 8.5% [ 38 ]. Lu et al fabricated Ni-based MOF-derived C@NiO@Ni microtubes that exhibited NH 3 FE of 11% [ 71 ]. Wang et al rationally designed an Fe-N/C NRR catalyst reaching NH3 FE of 9.2%, by carbonization of a Fe-ZIF-8-CNTs precursor at 1000 °C [ 55 ].…”

Exploration and Investigation of Periodic Elements for Electrocatalytic Nitrogen Reduction

“…Luo and co‐workers fabricated C@NiO@Ni which was derived by metal organic framework. [ 194 ] On investigating it as electrocatalyst for NRR in 0.1 m KOH, at −0.7 V, it delivered NH 3 at bulk rate (43.15 µg h −1 mg cat −1 ) with very high faradaic efficiency (10.9%). The magnificent activity of C@NiO@Ni was ascribed to abundant oxygen vacancies and high NiO@Ni interface, which collectively improved N 2 selectivity and proton adsorption resulting in enhanced NRR activity.…”