High Performance PdxCuy Bimetal Catalysts With Adjustable Faraday Current Efficiency for Nitrogen Fixation

The electro-catalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) at room temperature and atmospheric pressure has great potential in NH3 production, but the low product yield because of the low density of active sites and slow reaction kinetics greatly limits its further development. To overcome these shortcomings, a series of nano PdxCuy bimetal catalysts with adjustable Pd/Cu atomic ratios were prepared and used as electrocatalysts in the NRR. The PdxCuy bimetal catalysts possess large surface area and numerous active sites. In particular, due to excellent conductivity and reactivity, the Pd3Cu bimetallic catalyst showed remarkable performance with a NH3 yield of 22.9 μg h−1 mgcat−1 and a faraday efficiency (FE) of 3.26% at an overpotential of −0.25 V, while the PdCu3 bimetal catalyst exhibited a high FE of 15.62% and a NH3 yield of 19.1 μg h−1 mgcat−1. Moreover, even at a lower overpotential of −0.15 V, the NRR yield was far more than 10 μg h−1 mgcat−1. Thus, this strategy and study for preparing bimetal catalysts with adjustable FE would be beneficial for the preparation of superior bimetal NRR catalysts.