Evaluation of Electrocatalytic Activity of Noble Metal Catalysts Toward Nitrogen Reduction Reaction in Aqueous Solutions under Ambient Conditions
Authors:
- 16 November 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in ChemSusChem
- Vol. 15 (1) , e202102234
Abstract
Electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) is intensively investigated by researchers for its potential to be the next‐generation technology to produce ammonia. Many attempts have been made to explore the possibility of electrochemical ammonia production catalyzed by noble metals. However, the produced ammonia in most reported cases is in ppm level or even lower, which is susceptible to potential contaminants in experiments, leading to fluctuating or even contradictory results. Herein, a rigorous procedure was adopted to systematically evaluated the performance of commercial noble metal nanocatalysts toward NRR. No discernible amount of ammonia was detected in either acidic or alkaline solutions. Further, nitrogen‐containing contaminants in catalysts that might cause false positive results were detected and characterized. An effective way to remove pre‐existing pollutants by consecutive cyclic voltammetry scan was proposed, helping to obtain reliable and reproducible results.Keywords
Funding Information
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (22002089)
- National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFB0101201)
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