La-doped TiO2 nanorods toward boosted electrocatalytic N2-to-NH3 conversion at ambient conditions

Electrochemical N-2 reduction provides a green and sustainable alternative to the Haber-Bosch technology for NH3 synthesis. However, the extreme inertness of N-2 molecules is a formidable challenge, which requires the development of an active electrocatalyst to drive the N-2 reduction reaction (NRR) for NH3 production at ambient conditions. Herein, we demonstrate the development of La-doped TiO2 nanorods as an efficient NRR electrocatalyst for ambient NH3 synthesis. The optimized La-TiO2 catalyst offers a large NH3 yield of 23.06 mu g h(-1) mg(cat)(-1) and a high Faradaic efficiency of 14.54% at.0.70 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode in 0.1 M LiClO4, outperforming most La- and Ti-based catalysts reported before. Significantly, it also demonstrates high electrochemical stability and its activity decay is negligible after 48 h test. The mechanism is further revealed by density functional theory calculations. (C) 2021, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The development of La-doped TiO2 nanorods as an efficient NRR electrocatalyst for ambient NH3 synthesis has resulted in high NH3 yield and Faradaic efficiency, outperforming previous La- and Ti-based catalysts.