Single Atoms of Iron on MoS2 Nanosheets for N2 Electroreduction into Ammonia - Su - 2020 - Angewandte Chemie International Edition - Wiley Online Library

ABSTRACT

Efforts have been devoted to achieving a highly efficient artificial synthesis of ammonia (NH3). Reported herein is a novel Fe-MoS2 catalyst with Fe atomically dispersed onto MoS2 nanosheets, imitating natural nitrogenase, to boost N2 electroreduction into NH3 at room temperature. The Fe-MoS2 nanosheets exhibited a faradic efficiency of 18.8% with a yield rate of 8.63 mgNH3 mgcat.-1h-1 for NH3 at -0.3 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode. The mechanism study revealed that the electroreduction of N2 was promoted and the competing hydrogen evolution reaction was suppressed by decorating the edge sites of S in MoS2 with the atomically dispersed Fe, resulting in high catalytic performance for the electroreduction of N2 into NH3. This work provides new ideas for the design of catalysts for N2 electroreduction and strengthens the understanding about N2 activation over Mo-based catalysts.