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Research Article

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

Hong Huang1,§, Feng Gong3,§, Yuan Wang1, Huanbo Wang2, Xiufeng Wu1,4, Wenbo Lu4, Runbo Zhao1, Hongyu Chen1, Xifeng Shi5, Abdullah M. Asiri6, Tingshuai Li3, Qian Liu3, Xuping Sun1( )
Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences,University of Electronic Science and Technology of China,Chengdu,610054,China;
School of Environment and Resource,Southwest University of Science and Technology,Mianyang,621010,China;
School of Materials and Energy,University of Electronic Science and Technology of China,Chengdu,611731,China;
Key Laboratory of Magnetic Molecules and Magnetic Information Materials (Ministry of Education),School of Chemistry and Material Science, Shanxi Normal University,Linfen,041004,China;
College of Chemistry,Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Shandong Normal University,Jinan,250014,China;
Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science & Center of Excellence for Advanced Materials Research,King Abdulaziz University,P.O. Box 80203, Jeddah,21589,Saudi Arabia;

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

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Graphical Abstract

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·mgcat.-1 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.

Keywords

Mn3O4@rGO compositeelectrocatalystNH3 synthesisN2 reduction reactionambient conditions

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Nano Research
Volume 12 Issue 5,
May 2019
Pages 1093-1098
DOI: 10.1007/s12274-019-2352-5
Cite this article:
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 Research, 2019, 12(5): 1093-1098. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-019-2352-5
Topics:
Density functional theoryElectrocatalystsGrapheneManganese oxideNanoparticlesSodium sulfate

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Received: 03 January 2019
Revised: 01 February 2019
Accepted: 18 February 2019
Published: 12 March 2019
© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019
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