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Mn3O4 nanoparticles@reduced graphene oxide composite: An efficient electrocatalyst for artificial N2 fixation to NH3 at ambient conditions

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Abstract

Currently, industrial-scale NH3 production almost relies on energy-intensive Haber-Bosch process from atmospheric N2 with large amount of CO2 emission, while low-cost and high-efficient catalysts are demanded for the N2 reduction reaction (NRR). In this study, Mn3O4 nanoparticles@reduced graphene oxide (Mn3O4@rGO) composite is reported as an efficient NRR electrocatalyst with excellent selectivity for NH3 formation. In 0.1 M Na2SO4 solution, such catalyst obtains a NH3 yield of 17.4 μg·h−1·mg−1cat. and a Faradaic efficiency of 3.52% at −0.85 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode. Notably, it also shows high electrochemical stability during electrolysis process. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations also demonstrate that the (112) planes of Mn3O4 possess superior NRR activity.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21575137).

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Author notes

  1. Hong Huang and Feng Gong contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, China

    Hong Huang, Yuan Wang, Xiufeng Wu, Runbo Zhao, Hongyu Chen & Xuping Sun

  2. School of Environment and Resource, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, 621010, China

    Huanbo Wang

  3. School of Materials and Energy, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China

    Feng Gong, Tingshuai Li & Qian Liu

  4. Key Laboratory of Magnetic Molecules and Magnetic Information Materials (Ministry of Education), School of Chemistry and Material Science, Shanxi Normal University, Linfen, 041004, China

    Xiufeng Wu & Wenbo Lu

  5. College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, 250014, China

    Xifeng Shi

  6. Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science & Center of Excellence for Advanced Materials Research, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80203, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia

    Abdullah M. Asiri

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  1. Hong Huang
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Mn3O4 nanoparticles@reduced graphene oxide composite: An efficient electrocatalyst for artificial N2 fixation to NH3 at ambient conditions

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Huang, H., Gong, F., Wang, Y. et al. Mn3O4 nanoparticles@reduced graphene oxide composite: An efficient electrocatalyst for artificial N2 fixation to NH3 at ambient conditions. Nano Res. 12, 1093–1098 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-019-2352-5

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