B (boron), O (oxygen) dual-doped carbon spheres as a high-efficiency electrocatalyst for nitrogen reduction

Recently, electrochemical nitrogen reduction (NRR) has attracted significant interest due to its green synthesis process. However, the slow kinetics caused by the difficulty of N N bond activation and the competitive hydrogen evolution reaction hinder the development and application of electrochemical nitrogen reduction. Herein, we synthesized a metal-free electrocatalyst of B, O-decorated carbon microspheres (B,O-CMS) by a hydrothermal method using nitrogen-free raw materials. The doping of B increases the specific surface area, induces abundant microporous structure and adjusts the electronic structure of the materials. As a result, in 0.1 M HCl, B,O-CMS achieves a high V-NH3 of 19.2 mg h(-1) mg(-1) cat. and a high FE of 5.57% at -0.25 V vs. RHE, along with outstanding selectivity for NH3 production and stability. This work provides an effective approach to rationally design high-performance metal-free catalysts for NRR by doping heteroatoms into carbon materials. (C) 2020 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study synthesized B, O-decorated carbon microspheres by a hydrothermal method, achieving high-efficiency metal-free electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction with outstanding ammonia production rate and stability selectivity.