Assembly of Hydrophobic ZIF-8 on CeO2 Nanorods as High-Efficiency Catalyst for Electrocatalytic Nitrogen Reduction Reaction

Abstract

The electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) can use renewable electricity to convert water and N2 into NH3 under normal temperature and pressure conditions. However, due to the competitiveness of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), the ammonia production rate (RNH3) and Faraday efficiency (FE) of NRR catalysts cannot meet the needs of large-scale industrialization. Herein, by assembling hydrophobic ZIF-8 on a cerium oxide (CeO2) nanorod, we designed an excellent electrocatalyst CeO2-ZIF-8 with intrinsic NRR activity. The hydrophobic ZIF-8 surface was conducive to the efficient three-phase contact point of N2 (gas), CeO2 (solid) and electrolyte (liquid). Therefore, N2 is concentrated and H+ is deconcentrated on the CeO2-ZIF-8 electrocatalyst surface, which improves NRR and suppresses HER and finally CeO2-ZIF-8 exhibits excellent NRR performance with an RNH3 of 2.12 μg h−1 cm−2 and FE of 8.41% at −0.50 V (vs. RHE). It is worth noting that CeO2-ZIF-8 showed excellent stability in the six-cycle test, and the RNH3 and FE variation were negligible. This study paves a route for inhibiting the competitive reaction to improve the NRR catalyst activity and may provide a new strategy for NRR catalyst design.