Single-Site Gold Catalysts on Hierarchical N-Doped Porous Noble Carbon for Enhanced Electrochemical Reduction of Nitrogen

Electrocatalytic reduction of nitrogen (N-2) at ambient conditions is an alternative strategy to produce ammonia (NH3) to complement the commonly applied Haber-Bosch process. However, the achievement of high Faradaic efficiencies and high NH3 yield is still challenging. Here, Au single sites stabilized on N-doped porous and highly oxidizing ("noble") carbon catalysts showing excellent performance in N-2 electroreduction are reported. At a potential of -0.2 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode, a stable NH3 yield of 2.32 mu g h(-1) cm(-2) is produced at a Faradaic efficiency of 12.3%. Besides, there is no notable fluctuation of Faradaic efficiency and NH3 yield in six-cycle test, which indicates good stability. This work opens up new insights to improve N-2 fixation performance by introducing catalytically active single sites into noble carbon materials for N-2 electroreduction.