The electrocatalytic N_(2) reduction reaction(eNRR)is a potential alternative to the Haber-Bosch process for ammonia(NH3)production.Tremendous efforts have been made in eNRR catalyst research to promote the practical ...The electrocatalytic N_(2) reduction reaction(eNRR)is a potential alternative to the Haber-Bosch process for ammonia(NH3)production.Tremendous efforts have been made in eNRR catalyst research to promote the practical application of eNRR.In this work,by means of density functional theory calculations and the computational hydrogen electrode model,we evaluated the eNRR performance of 30 single metal atoms supported on a C_(2)N monolayer(M@C_(2)N),and we designed a new thermodynamically stable Pd-W hetero-metal diatomic catalyst supported on the C_(2)N monolayer(PdW@C_(2)N).We found that PdW@C_(2)N prefers to adsorb H over N_(2),and then,the pre-generated hydrogen-terminated PdW@C_(2)N selectively adsorbing N_(2) behaves as the actual functioning“catalyst”to catalyze the eNRR process,exhibiting excellent performance with a low overpotential(0.31 V),an ultralow NH3 desorption free energy(0.05 eV),and a high selectivity toward eNRR over hydrogen evolution reaction(HER).Moreover,PdW@C_(2)N shows a superior eNRR performance to its monomer(W@C_(2)N)and homonuclear diatom(W_(2)@C_(2)N)counterparts.The revealed mechanism indicates that the preferential H adsorption over N_(2) on the active site may not always hamper the eNRR process,especially for heteronuclear diatom catalysts.This work encourages deeper exploration on the competition of eNRR and HER on catalyst surfaces.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(21973053)the Creative Seed Fund of Shanxi Research Institute for Clean Energy,Tsinghua University.
文摘The electrocatalytic N_(2) reduction reaction(eNRR)is a potential alternative to the Haber-Bosch process for ammonia(NH3)production.Tremendous efforts have been made in eNRR catalyst research to promote the practical application of eNRR.In this work,by means of density functional theory calculations and the computational hydrogen electrode model,we evaluated the eNRR performance of 30 single metal atoms supported on a C_(2)N monolayer(M@C_(2)N),and we designed a new thermodynamically stable Pd-W hetero-metal diatomic catalyst supported on the C_(2)N monolayer(PdW@C_(2)N).We found that PdW@C_(2)N prefers to adsorb H over N_(2),and then,the pre-generated hydrogen-terminated PdW@C_(2)N selectively adsorbing N_(2) behaves as the actual functioning“catalyst”to catalyze the eNRR process,exhibiting excellent performance with a low overpotential(0.31 V),an ultralow NH3 desorption free energy(0.05 eV),and a high selectivity toward eNRR over hydrogen evolution reaction(HER).Moreover,PdW@C_(2)N shows a superior eNRR performance to its monomer(W@C_(2)N)and homonuclear diatom(W_(2)@C_(2)N)counterparts.The revealed mechanism indicates that the preferential H adsorption over N_(2) on the active site may not always hamper the eNRR process,especially for heteronuclear diatom catalysts.This work encourages deeper exploration on the competition of eNRR and HER on catalyst surfaces.
