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High‐Performance Nitrogen Fixation over Mo Atom Modified Defective α‐MnO2 (001)

MetadataDetails
Publication Date2020-04-27
JournalChemCatChem
AuthorsLinxia Wang, Minghui Wu, Xiuyao Lang, Shan Gao, Weichao Wang
InstitutionsMinjiang University, Nankai University
Citations6

Abstract The production of ammonia under ambient conditions through electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction is significant but challenging. The lack of an available active NRR electrocatalyst with a high selectivity impedes the development of the electrochemical ammonia synthesis. In this work, via first‐principles density functional theory calculations, we investigated various transition metal atoms (Fe, Cr, V, and Mo) substitution modified defective (with an oxygen vacancy) α‐MnO 2 (001) as NRR electrocatalyst. It was found that the incorporation of a single Mo atom substituent at Mn site of α‐MnO 2 (001) shows the best performance of nitrogen fixation through enzymatic mechanism with a favorable limiting potential of −0.14 V. The superior selectivity for NH 3 over H 2 is observed with high Faradaic efficiency of 99 %. The ‐like characteristics of occupied states around the Fermi level of Mo active center maximizes the p‐d orbital hybridization and thus promotes the stabilities of *N 2 and *N 2 H, which leads to the superior NRR performance. These findings provide theoretical guidance to the development of highly efficient NRR electrocatalysts via defect engineering.

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