Controllable synthesis of a hollow Cr2O3 electrocatalyst for enhanced nitrogen reduction toward ammonia synthesis

Authors

Lei Shi, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Yu Yin
Hong Wu, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Rajan Arjan Kalyan Hirani, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Xinyuan Xu, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Jinqiang Zhang, Edith Cowan University
Nasir Rafique, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Abdul Hannan Asif, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Shu Zhang
Hongqi Sun, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Title

Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering

Volume

41

First Page

358

Last Page

365

Publisher

Elsevier

School

School of Engineering

RAS ID

52698

Funders

Australian Research Council

Grant Number

ARC Number : DP170104264

Grant Link

http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP170104264

Comments

Shi, L., Yin, Y., Wu, H., Hirani, R. A. K., Xu, X., Zhang, J., ... & Sun, H. (2022). Controllable synthesis of a hollow Cr2O3 electrocatalyst for enhanced nitrogen reduction toward ammonia synthesis. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 41, 358-365.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cjche.2021.11.016

Abstract

As a fascinating alternative to the energy-intensive Haber-Bosch process, the electrochemically-driven N₂ reduction reaction (NRR) utilizing the N₂ and H₂O for the production of NH₃ has received enormous attention. The development and preparation of promising electrocatalysts are requisite to realize an efficient N₂ conversion for NH₃ production. In this research, we propose a template-assisted strategy to construct the hollow electrocatalyst with controllable morphology. As a paradigm, the hollow Cr₂O₃ nanocatalyst with a uniform size (∼170 nm), small cavity and ultrathin shell (∼15 nm) is successfully fabricated with this strategy. This promising hollow structure is favourable to trap N₂ into the cavity, provides abundant active sites to accelerate the three-phase interactions, and facilitates the reactant transfer across the shell. Attributed to these synergetic effects, the designed catalyst displays an outstanding behaviour in N₂ fixation for NH₃ production in ambient condition. In the neutral electrolyte of 0.1 mol·L⁻¹ Na₂SO₄, an impressive electrocatalytic performance with the NH₃ generation rate of 2.72 μg·h⁻¹·cm⁻² and a high FE of 5.31% is acquired respectively at −0.85 V with the hollow Cr₂O₃ catalyst. Inspired by this work, it is highly expected that this approach could be applied as a universal strategy and extended to fabricating other promising electrocatalysts for realizing highly efficient nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR).

DOI

10.1016/j.cjche.2021.11.016

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