• 文献标题:   Anchoring an Fe Dimer on Nitrogen-Doped Graphene toward Highly Efficient Electrocatalytic Ammonia Synthesis
  • 文献类型:   Article
  • 作  者:   ZHANG Z, HUANG X, XU H
  • 作者关键词:   dualatom catalyst, nitrogen reduction reaction, low oxidation state, kinetic proces, dft calculation
  • 出版物名称:   ACS APPLIED MATERIALS INTERFACES
  • ISSN:   1944-8244 EI 1944-8252
  • 通讯作者地址:  
  • 被引频次:   17
  • DOI:   10.1021/acsami.1c11585 EA AUG 2021
  • 出版年:   2021

▎ 摘  要

Electrochemical reduction of N-2 to NH3 based on sustainable energy is a green technique to produce decentralized and ondemand ammonia. In this work, taking graphene as a design platform, we explore the dual-atom catalysts (DACs) via embedding two homonuclear transition metal (TM) atoms into graphene decorated with four neighboring pyrrolic nitrogen atoms (TM2N4@graphene) to computationally screen the qualified nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) catalysts. On the basis of the activity, selectivity, and stability of 15 homonuclear DACs of TM2N4@graphene, Fe2N4@graphene is identified as the most efficient NRR catalyst with a limiting potential of only -0.32 V. Electronic structure analysis demonstrates that the low oxidation state of Fe (+1) remarkably activates the molecular N-2, which contributes to its excellent NRR catalytic activity. Moreover, the kinetic studies reveal all of the NRR elementary steps exhibiting barriers smaller than that of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), showing that HER is effectively suppressed. In addition, we find that the integral crystal orbital Hamilton population (ICOHP) can be used as a descriptor to describe the Gibbs free energy of each step for its NRR performance. This work not only provides theoretical guidance for designing DACs for NRR but also promotes the understanding of DACs for N-2 fixation.