Enhancing Electrocatalytic N2 Reduction to NH3 by CeO2 Nanorod with Oxygen Vacancies

As a sustainable and environmentally friendly route, electrochemical N-2 reduction has been expected to replace the traditional N-2 fixation process of Haber-Bosch, which is energy-consuming and capital-intensive. In this work, we demonstrate that CeO2 nanorod with oxygen vacancies achieves a great enhancement for NRR with excellent selectivity and stability. Such electrocatalyst delivers NH3 yield of 16.4 mu g h(-1) mg(cat.)(-1) at -0.5 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) and Faradaic efficiency of 3.7% at -0.4 V vs RHE using aqueous 0.1 M Na2SO4 electrolyte, higher than that of pristine CeO2 counterpart (5.4 mu g h(-1) mg(cat.)(-1); 2.1%).