N₂ Electrochemical Reduction: Achieving a Record‐High Yield Rate of 120.9 μgNH3  mgcat.−1  h−1 for N₂ Electrochemical Reduction over Ru Single‐Atom Catalysts (Adv. Mater. 40/2018)

Abstract

Ru single atoms are distributed on nitrogen‐doped carbon (Ru SAs/N–C), synthesized for efficient electrochemical reduction of N2 by Rui Si, Jie Zeng, and co‐workers, as described in article number https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201803498. Ru SAs/N–C exhibits a record‐high activity for N2 electrochemical reduction. At −0.2 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode, Ru SAs/N–C achieves a Faradaic efficiency of 29.6% for NH3 production with a yield rate of 120.9 μnormalgNHnormal3 mgcat.−1 normalh−1, which is one order of magnitude higher than the highest value previously reported.

The removal of inevitable NO species in catalysts and the selection of appropriate membrane for measuring electrocatalytic ammonia synthesis accurately

“…In the past few years, there has been a surge in electrocatalytic ammonia synthesis, and various electrocatalysts and systems have been developed. Ammonia yields and Faradaic efficiencies of NRR are constantly being broken and refreshed [10][11][12] . However, due to the extremely low ammonia yield and easily accessible extraneous contamination in the laboratory, NRR study always suffers from fluctuation and variability.…”

Sub‐Nanometer Thick Gold Nanosheets as Highly Efficient Catalysts

“…2D nanomaterials with thicknesses of single to few atomic layers, as exemplified by graphene, have stimulated enormous interest, owing to their unique electronic, mechanical, and surface‐related properties that arise from their reduced dimensionality . Freestanding ultrathin metal nanostructures have recently become the rising stars of 2D materials, because of their potential for applications in bioimaging, therapy, sensing, and catalysis .…”

Ruthenium(iii) polyethyleneimine complexes for bifunctional ammonia production and biomass upgrading

“…-1 h -1 with a high FE of 30.93% at -0.1 V. This catalyst compares favorably to the behaviors of most state-of-the-art reported NRR catalysts, including Ru single-atom catalysts (120.9 μgNH3 mgcat. -1 h -1 , 29.60%) 9 , Mo2N nanorod (78.4 μgNH3 mgcat. -1 h -1 , 4.50%) 12 , sulfur dots-graphene nanohybrid (28.56 μgNH3 mgcat.…”

“…6,8 For instance, Zeng's group reported Ru single atoms distributed on nitrogen-doped carbon, which exhibited high activity for NRR due to the promoted N2 dissociation by the atomically dispersed Ru species. 9 Similarly, Sun's group prepared single Ru sites supported on N-doped porous C achieved an outstanding NRR activity owing to the small size of Ru and the significant role of ZrO2 to suppress hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) process. 6 On the other hand, as a class of interstitial compounds, metal nitrides have attracted much attention owing to their high chemical stability, unique electronic properties and outstanding electrochemical properties.…”