Engineering vacancy and hydrophobicity of two-dimensional TaTe2 for efficient and stable electrocatalytic N2 reduction

Graphical abstract

Ammonia is an essential resource across modern industry and agriculture. Direct nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) using electrolysis provides a renewable and distributed route for manufacturing NH3. Considerable effort has been devoted to the design and development of advanced and robust electrocatalysts to enhance the efficiency of NRR. We report a synergistic protocol to boost electrocatalytic ammonia production by jointly tuning the Te vacancies (VTe) and surface hydrophobicity of two-dimensional TaTe2. Remarkable NH3 faradic efficiency of up to 32.2% is achieved at a mild overpotential, which is largely maintained even after 100.0 h of continuous operation. We identify that the edge plane of TaTe2 and VTe serve as the main active sites for NRR and the potential-determining step is ∗NH2 + (H+ + e–) → NH3.

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xinn.2021.100190

Citation:
Zhao Z., Park J., Choi C., et al. (2021). Engineering Vacancy and Hydrophobicity of Two-Dimensional TaTe2 for Efficient and Stable Electrocatalytic N2 Reduction. The Innovation. 3(1),100190.