Recent advances in TiO₂‐based catalysts for N₂ reduction reaction

Abstract

Nitrogen (N2) fixation under mild conditions is a promising approach for green production of ammonia (NH3). In the past decades, various advanced catalysts have been fabricated to achieve this goal through electrocatalytic and photocatalytic processes. Among them, the TiO2‐based catalysts have been recognized as promising candidates due to their high activity, low cost, chemical stability, and nontoxicity. In this review, recent advances in the fabrication of high‐performance TiO2‐based materials for N2 reduction reaction (NRR) under mild conditions are summarized, including electrocatalytic and photocatalytic NRR. The design principles, synthetic strategies, and corresponding chemical/physical properties of TiO2‐based NRR catalysts are described in detail. Moreover, the key challenges and potential opportunities in this field are presented and discussed.

Spin-engineered Cu–Ni metallic aerogels for enhanced ethylamine electrosynthesis from acetonitrile

“…Ethylamine is one of the simplest amines and is widely used in hydrogen-storage devices, organic chemical reactions, energy conversion, and so on. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] There are many ways to obtain ethylamine in industry, such as through the ammoxidation of ethanol, 12,13 reductive ammoniation of acetaldehyde, 14,15 and hydrogenation of acetonitrile. 16,17 Among these, acetonitrile, a byproduct of acrylonitrile produced by the Sohio process, has attracted increasing attention because of its easy access to raw materials.…”

Unifying the Nitrogen Reduction Activity of Anatase and Rutile TiO2 Surfaces

“…Artificial photosynthesis of NH 3 , i. e. reduction of N 2 via photocatalytic reaction, [4][5][6] or converting light to electronic energy and reducing N 2 via electrocatalytic reaction, [7,1] has attracted intensive attention because it can utilize the clean and infinite solar energy. TiO 2 , as a model of transition metal oxide, has been applied in both photocatalytic and electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR).…”

Lattice‐Confined Single‐Atom Fe1Sx on Mesoporous TiO2 for Boosting Ambient Electrocatalytic N2 Reduction Reaction

“…Electrocatalytic N 2 fixation driven by renewable electricity at ambient conditions is considered as a favorite alternative for sustainable NH 3 synthesis [8, 9] . Nevertheless, great obstacles for polarizing the inert N 2 molecules severely restrain the N 2 reduction reaction (NRR) and result in low ammonia yield rate [10, 11] .…”

“…Electrocatalytic N 2 fixation driven by renewable electricity at ambient conditions is considered as a favorite alternative for sustainable NH 3 synthesis. [8,9] Nevertheless, great obstacles for polarizing the inert N 2 molecules severely restrain the N 2 reduction reaction (NRR) and result in low ammonia yield rate. [10,11] In addition, the comparable redox potential of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER, 2 H + + 2 e À $ H 2 , E 0 = 0 V vs. NHE) to NRR (N 2 + 6 H + + 6 e À $ 2 NH 3 , E 0 = 0.092 V vs. NHE) makes the HER process a strong competitor, causing the limited Faradaic efficiency (FE).…”