am9b15570_si_001.pdf (903.63 kB)
Design of a High-Performance Electrocatalyst for N2 Conversion to NH3 by Trapping Single Metal Atoms on Stepped CeO2
journal contribution
posted on 2019-12-08, 20:29 authored by Jiamin Qi, Liye Gao, Fenfei Wei, Qiang Wan, Sen LinSingle-atom catalysts (SACs) have recently been shown
to have high
performance in catalyzing the synthesis of NH3 from N2. Here, we systematically investigated a series of single
transition metal atoms anchored on stepped CeO2 (CeO2-S) to screen the potential electrocatalysts for a N2 reduction reaction (NRR) via density functional theory computations.
We first demonstrated that these SACs are stable via large calculated
binding energies. Second, we evaluated the adsorption of *N2 over CeO2-S-supported single atoms. Here, those systems
that can activate N2 molecules were selected as candidates.
We then showed that CeO2-S-supported single Mo and Ru atoms
have high catalytic activity for NRR via low limiting potentials of
−0.52 and −0.35 V, respectively. Meanwhile, the competitive
hydrogen evolution reaction is highly suppressed over these two SACs
because the adsorption of *N2 is prior to *H. Finally,
the origin of the NRR activity over these SACs was investigated. This
work offers useful insights into designing high-performance CeO2-based electrocatalysts for NRR.