Electrochemical Reduction of N2 under Ambient Conditions for Artificial N2 Fixation and Renewable Energy Storage Using N2/NH3 Cycle

Using tetrahexahedral gold nanorods as a heterogeneous electrocatalyst, an electrocatalytic N-2 reduction reaction is shown to be possible at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, with a high Faradic efficiency up to 4.02% at -0.2 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode (1.648 mu g h(-1) cm(-2) and 0.102 mu g h(-1) cm(-2) for NH3 and N2H4 center dot H2O, respectively).