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Research Article

Oxygen vacancy engineering of calcium cobaltate: A nitrogen fixation electrocatalyst at ambient condition in neutral electrolyte

Xinyu Chen§, Ke Li§, Xiaoxuan Yang, Jiaqi Lv, Sai Sun, Siqi Li, Dongming Cheng, Bo Li, Yang-Guang Li, Hong-Ying Zang ( )
Key Laboratory of Polyoxometalate Science of the Ministry of Education, Faculty of Chemistry, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China

§Xinyu Chen and Ke Li contributed equally to this work.

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Abstract

In order to sustainably transform N2 to ammonia (NRR) using electrocatalysts under mild ambient condition, it is urgent to design and develop non-nobel metal nanocatalysts that are inexpensive and suitable for mass-production. Herein, a calcium metalate catalyst CaCoOx with oxygen vacancies was synthesized and used as an electrocatalyst for NRR for the first time, whose morphology can be controlled by the calcination temperature and the heating rate. Under the optimal conditions, the CaCoOx catalyst achieved the yield of nitrogen conversion to ammonia of 16.25 μg·h-1·mgcat.-1 at the potential of -0.3 V relative to the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) with a Faraday efficiency of 20.51%. The electrocatalyst showed good stability even after 12 times recyclability under environmental conditions and neutral electrolyte. Later, the electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction performance of CaFeOx, CaNiOx, CaCuOx was investigated. These earth-rich transition metals also exhibited certain NRR electrocatalytic capabilities, which provided a door for further development of inexpensive and easily available transition metal as nitrogen reduction electrocatalysts.

Keywords

nitrogen fixationoxygen vacancyelectrocatalysiscalcium cobaltatenanoplates

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Nano Research
Volume 14 Issue 2,
February 2021
Pages 501-506
DOI: 10.1007/s12274-020-3043-y
Cite this article:
Chen X, Li K, Yang X, et al. Oxygen vacancy engineering of calcium cobaltate: A nitrogen fixation electrocatalyst at ambient condition in neutral electrolyte. Nano Research, 2021, 14(2): 501-506. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-3043-y
Topics:
AmmoniaCobalt compoundsCopper compoundsElectrocatalystsElectrolytesIron compoundsNanocatalystsNickel compoundsTransition metals

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Received: 25 May 2020
Revised: 27 July 2020
Accepted: 07 August 2020
Published: 05 September 2020
© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature
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