Hexagonal boron nitride nanosheet for effective ambient N2 fixation to NH3

Industrial production of NH3 from N-2 and H-2 significantly relies on Haber-Bosch process, which suffers from high energy consume and CO2 emission. As a sustainable and environmentally-benign alternative process, electrochemical artificial N-2 fixation at ambient conditions, however, is highly required efficient electrocatalysts. In this study, we demonstrate that hexagonal boron nitride nanosheet (h-BNNS) is able to electrochemically catalyze N-2 to NH3. In acidic solution, h-BNNS catalyst attains a high NH3 formation rate of 22.4 gh(-1)mg(cat)(-1). and a high Faradic efficiency of 4.7% at-0.75 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode, with excellent stability and durability. Density functional theory calculations reveal that unsaturated boron at the edge site can activate inert N-2 molecule and significantly reduce the energy barrier for NH3 formation.