Enhancing Green Ammonia Electrosynthesis Through Tuning Sn Vacancies in Sn-Based MXene/MAX Hybrids

• DOI: 10.1007/s40820-023-01303-2
• Publication Date: 2024-01-16T13:02:08Z
• Authors: Xinyu Dai; Zhen-Yi Du; Ying Sun; Ping Chen; Xiaoguang Duan; Junjun Zhang; Hui Li; Yang Fu; Baohua Jia; Lei Zhang; Wenhui Fang; Jieshan Qiu; Tianyi Ma
• Keywords: N2 electroreduction; Renewable energy; Sn; Technology; T; MXene/MAX hybrid; Green ammonia synthesis; 01 natural sciences; Article; 0104 chemical sciences

AbstractRenewable energy driven N2 electroreduction with air as nitrogen source holds great promise for realizing scalable green ammonia production. However, relevant out-lab research is still in its infancy. Herein, a novel Sn-based MXene/MAX hybrid with abundant Sn vacancies, Sn@Ti2CTX/Ti2SnC–V, was synthesized by controlled etching Sn@Ti2SnC MAX phase and demonstrated as an efficient electrocatalyst for electrocatalytic N2 reduction. Due to the synergistic effect of MXene/MAX heterostructure, the existence of Sn vacancies and the highly dispersed Sn active sites, the obtained Sn@Ti2CTX/Ti2SnC–V exhibits an optimal NH3 yield of 28.4 µg h−1 mgcat−1 with an excellent FE of 15.57% at − 0.4 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode in 0.1 M Na2SO4, as well as an ultra-long durability. Noticeably, this catalyst represents a satisfactory NH3 yield rate of 10.53 µg h−1 mg−1 in the home-made simulation device, where commercial electrochemical photovoltaic cell was employed as power source, air and ultrapure water as feed stock. The as-proposed strategy represents great potential toward ammonia production in terms of financial cost according to the systematic technical economic analysis. This work is of significance for large-scale green ammonia production.