Communication-Partial Oxidation of MnS for Synergistic Electrocatalysis of N2-to-NH3 Fixation at Ambient Conditions

Compared with the traditional Haber-Bosch process, electrochemical N-2 to NH3 reduction affords an eco-friendly and sustainable alternative to ambient NH3 synthesis with the aid of efficient electrocatalysts. In this work, partial oxidation of MnS to obtain the MnS-Mn3O4 is proved as a promising noble-free electrocatalysts of N-2 to NH3 fixation at ambient conditions. When tested in 0.1 M Na2SO4, the electrochemical N-2 reduction reaction performance of MnS-Mn3O4 is improved comparing with the MnS, which achieves large NH3 yield of 16.74 mu g h(-1) mg(cat.) (-1) and a high Faradaic efficiency of 5.72%. It also exhibits excellent selectivity of N-2 to NH3 and strong long-term electrochemical stability.