High-efficiency electrocatalyst for N2 conversion to NH3 based on Au nanoparticles loaded on defective WO3x

Authors

Youzeng Li, Zhengzhou University
Pengfei Yan, Zhengzhou University
Jun Chen, Zhengzhou University
Yumei Ren, Zhengzhou University
Yannan Zhou, Zhengzhou University
Tianpei Ge, Zhengzhou University
Jun Chen, University of WollongongFollow
Qun Xu, Zhengzhou UniversityFollow

RIS ID

139909

Publication Details

Li, Y., Yan, P., Chen, J., Ren, Y., Zhou, Y., Ge, T., Chen, J. & Xu, Q. (2019). High-efficiency electrocatalyst for N2 conversion to NH3 based on Au nanoparticles loaded on defective WO3x. Chemical communications (Cambridge, England), 55 (88), 13307-13310.

Abstract

In this work, Au nanoparticles (NPs) grown on defective WO3-x (Au/WO3-x) show superior electrocatalytic N2 reduction activity under ambient conditions in 0.1 M KOH. At -0.2 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode (vs. RHE), the Au/WO3-x catalyst achieves a large NH3 yield of 23.15 μg h-1 mg-1 and a high faradaic efficiency (FE) of 14.72%. Further density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that electron transfer between the Au nanoparticles and defective WO3-x promotes the activation of N2 molecules effectively.