Issue

Vol. 12 (2020)

Bismuth-Based Free-Standing Electrodes for Ambient-Condition Ammonia Production in Neutral Media

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-020-00444-y
Ying Sun
Institute of Clean Energy Chemistry, Key Laboratory for Green Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry of Advanced Materials, College of Chemistry, Liaoning University, Shenyang 110036, People’s Republic of China
Zizhao Deng
Institute of Clean Energy Chemistry, Key Laboratory for Green Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry of Advanced Materials, College of Chemistry, Liaoning University, Shenyang 110036, People’s Republic of China
Xi‑Ming Song
Key Laboratory for Green Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry of Advanced Materials, College of Chemistry, Liaoning University, Shenyang 110036, People’s Republic of China
Hui Li
Institute of Clean Energy Chemistry, Key Laboratory for Green Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry of Advanced Materials, College of Chemistry, Liaoning University, Shenyang 110036, People’s Republic of China
Zihang Huang
Institute of Clean Energy Chemistry, Key Laboratory for Green Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry of Advanced Materials, College of Chemistry, Liaoning University, Shenyang 110036, People’s Republic of China
Qin Zhao
Institute of Clean Energy Chemistry, Key Laboratory for Green Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry of Advanced Materials, College of Chemistry, Liaoning University, Shenyang 110036, People’s Republic of China
Daming Feng
Institute of Clean Energy Chemistry, Key Laboratory for Green Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry of Advanced Materials, College of Chemistry, Liaoning University, Shenyang 110036, People’s Republic of China
Wei Zhang
Key Laboratory for Green Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry of Advanced Materials, College of Chemistry, Liaoning University, Shenyang 110036, People’s Republic of China
Zhaoqing Liu
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangzhou Key Laboratory for Environmentally Functional Materials and Technology, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, People’s Republic of China
Tianyi Ma
Discipline of Chemistry, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia

Corresponding Author: Tianyi Ma

Tianyi.Ma@newcastle.edu.au

Nano-Micro Letters, Vol. 12 (2020), Article Number: 133

Abstract

Electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction is a carbon-free and energy-saving strategy for efficient synthesis of ammonia under ambient conditions. Here, we report the synthesis of nanosized Bi2O3 particles grown on functionalized exfoliated graphene (Bi2O3/FEG) via a facile electrochemical deposition method. The obtained free-standing Bi2O3/FEG achieves a high Faradaic efficiency of 11.2% and a large NH3 yield of 4.21 ± 0.14 μgNH3 h−1 cm−2 at − 0.5 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode in 0.1 M Na2SO4, better than that in the strong acidic and basic media. Benefiting from its strong interaction of Bi 6p band with the N 2p orbitals, binder-free characteristic, and facile electron transfer, Bi2O3/FEG achieves superior catalytic performance and excellent long-term stability as compared with most of the previous reported catalysts. This study is significant to design low-cost, high-efficient Bi-based electrocatalysts for electrochemical ammonia synthesis.


Highlights:


1 The Bi2O3 nanoplates homogeneously decorated free-standing exfoliated graphene (Bi2O3/FEG) was prepared by a facile electrochemical deposition method.
2 The Bi2O3/FEG first used as nitrogen reduction electrocatalyst exhibits excellent electrocatalysis performance and stability for nitrogen reduction reaction in neutral media.
3 The superior electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction activity is attributed to the strong interaction of the Bi 6p band with the N 2p orbitals, binder-free nature of the electrodes, and facile electron transfer through the graphene nanosheets.

Keywords

N2 reduction Bi2O3 nanoplate Electrocatalysis Free-standing
Sun, Ying, Zizhao Deng, Xi‑Ming Song, Hui Li, Zihang Huang, Qin Zhao, Daming Feng, Wei Zhang, Zhaoqing Liu, and Tianyi Ma. 2020. “Bismuth-Based Free-Standing Electrodes for Ambient-Condition Ammonia Production in Neutral Media”. Nano-Micro Letters 12 (June):133. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-020-00444-y.
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