Amorphous MoS_(3) enriched with sulfur vacancies for efficient electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction

Developing low-priced,yet effective and robust catalysts for the nitrogen reduction reaction(NRR) is of vital importance for scalable and renewable electrochemical NH3 synthesis.Herein,we provide the first demonstration of MoS_3 as an efficient and durable NRR catalyst in neutral media.The prepared amorphous MoS_3 naturally possessed enriched S vacancies and delivered an NH3 yield of 51.7 μg h^(-1) mg^(-1)and a Faradaic efficiency of 12.8% at-0.3 V(RHE) in 0.5 M LiClO_4,considerably exceeding those of MoS_2 and most reported NRR catalysts.Density functional theory calculations unraveled that S vacancies involved in MoS_3 played a crucial role in activating the NRR via a consecutive mechanism with a low energetics barrier and simultaneously suppressing the hydrogen evolution reaction.