Bismuth-Based Free-Standing Electrodes for Ambient-Condition Ammonia Production in Neutral Media

摘要

Electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction is a carbon-free and energy-saving strategy for efficient synthesis of ammonia under ambient conditions.Here,we report the synthesis of nanosized Bi2O3 particles grown on functionalized exfoliated graphene(Bi2O3/FEG)via a facile electrochemical deposition method.The obtained free-standing Bi2O3/FEG achieves a high Faradaic efficiency of 11.2%and a large NH3 yield of 4.21±0.14μgNH3 h^-1 cm^-2 at-0.5 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode in 0.1 M Na2SO4,better than that in the strong acidic and basic media.Benefiting from its strong interaction of Bi 6p band with the N2p orbitals,binder-free characteristic,and facile electron transfer,Bi2O3/FEG achieves superior catalytic performance and excellent long-term stability as compared with most of the previous reported catalysts.This study is significant to design low-cost,high-efficient Bi-based electrocatalysts for electrochemical ammonia synthesis.