Reactive Ionic Liquid Enables the Construction of 3D Rh Particles with Nanowire Subunits for Electrocatalytic Nitrogen Reduction

Until now, the synthesis of Rh particles with unusual three-dimensional (3D) nanostructures is still challenging. A 3D nanostructure enables fast ion/molecule transport and possesses plenty of exposed active surface, and therefore it is of great interest to construct 3D Rh particles catalysts for the N-2 reduction reaction (NRR). Herein, we proposed a reactive ionic liquid strategy for fabricating unusual 3D Rh particles with nanowires as the subunits. The ionic liquid n-octylammonium formate simultaneously worked as reaction medium, reductant and template for the successful construction of 3D Rh particles. The as-prepared 3D Rh particles demonstrated excellent activity for electrocatalytic N-2 fixation in 0.1 M KOH electrolyte under ambient conditions with a high NH3 yield of 35.58 mu g h(-1) mg(cat.)(-1) at -0.2 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), surpassing most of the state-of-the-art noble metal catalysts. Our reactive ionic liquid strategy thus holds great promise for the rational construction of high-performance electrocatalysts toward NRR.