Synergistic enhancement of ammonia electrosynthesis by N-doped and sulfur vacancy in MoS2/CoS catalysts

Electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (ENRR) is regarded as a promising alternative to the traditional Haber-Bosch process, but the development of highly active catalysts with good selectivity still faces great challenges. In this work, XN-MoS2/CoS-n composite catalysts with N-doped and sulfur vacancies (Vs) were fabricated and employed as effective catalysts for ENRR, which were comprehensively characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD, XANES, EXAFS, and DEMS. The experimental results indicate that N-doping improves the selective adsorption of catalysts, thereby diminishing the competition for HER. Vs can offer more active sites, and the intimate contact between MoS2 and CoS facilitates electron transfer at the interfaces, thereby promoting N2 activation. Among them, 0.5N-MoS2/CoS-1 exhibited the best NH3 yield rate (34.06 mu g h- 1 mg cat.-1 ) and Faradaic efficiency (20.10%) at a potential of-0.65 V (vs. RHE), and showed the excellent long-term stability. This study presents a novel approach for improving the performance of ENRR catalysts.