Metal-organic framework-derived nitrogen-doped highly disordered carbon for electrochemical ammonia synthesis using N2 and H2O in alkaline electrolytes

Abstract Ammonia (NH 3 ) is considered an important chemical for both agriculture fertilizer and renewable energy. The conventional Haber-Bosh process to produce NH 3 is energy intensive and leads to significant CO 2 emission. Alternatively, electrochemical synthesis of ammonia (ESA) through the nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) by using renewable electricity has recently attracted significant attention. Herein, we report a metal-organic framework-derived nitrogen-doped nanoporous carbon as an electrocatalyst for the NRR. It exhibits a remarkable production rate of NH 3 up to 3.4 × 10 −6 mol cm −2 h −1 with a Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 10.2% at −0.3 V vs. RHE under room temperature and ambient pressure using aqueous 0.1 M KOH electrolyte. Increasing the temperature to 60 °C further improves production rates to 7.3 × 10 −6 mol cm −2 h −1 . The stability of the nitrogen-doped carbon electrocatalyst was demonstrated during an 18-h continuous test with constant production rates. First principles calculations were used to elucidate the possible active sites and reaction pathway. The moiety, which consists of three pyridinic N atoms (N 3 ) adjacent with one carbon vacancy embedded in a carbon layer, is able to strongly adsorb N 2 and further realize N≡N triple bond dissociation for the subsequent protonation process. The rate-determining step of the NRR is predicted to be the adsorption and bond activation of N 2 molecule. Increasing overpotentials is favorable for the protonation process during NH 3 generation. Further doping Fe into the nitrogen-doped carbon likely blocks the N 3 active sites and facilitates the hydrogen evolution reaction, a strong competitor to the NRR, thus yielding negative effect on ammonia production. This work provides a new insight into the rational design and synthesis of nitrogen-doped and defect-rich carbon as efficient NRR catalysts for NH 3 synthesis at ambient conditions.