Intimate atomic Cu-Ag interfaces for high CO2RR selectivity towards CH4 at low over potential

Developing highly efficient electrochemical catalysts for carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO2RR) provides a solution to battle global warming issues resulting from ever-increasing carbon footprint due to human activities. Copper (Cu) is known for its efficiency in CO2RR towards value-added hydrocarbons; hence its unique structural properties along with various Cu alloys have been extensively explored in the past decade. Here, we demonstrate a two-step approach to achieve intimate atomic Cu-Ag interfaces on the surface of Cu nanowires, which show greatly improved CO2RR selectivity towards methane (CH4). The specially designed Cu-Ag interfaces showed an impressive maximum Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 72% towards CH4 production at −1.17 V (vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE)).

A magnetron sputtered Mo3Si thin film: an efficient electrocatalyst for N2 reduction under ambient conditions

Mo3Si is a superior catalyst for electrochemical N2 reduction in 0.1 M Na2SO4, offering a large NH3 yield of 2 × 10−10 mol s−1 cm−2 and a high Faraday efficiency of 6.69% at −0.4 V and −0.3 V vs. a reversible hydrogen electrode, respectively.

The Synthesis of V2O3 Nanorings by Hydrothermal Process as an Efficient Electrocatalyst Toward N2 Fixation to NH3

A new ringlike V2O3 architecture was successfully synthesized by a template-free hydrothermal method, and the sulfur ions-assisted central-etching mechanism of the ringlike structure was proposed. Herein, as a proof-of-concept experiment, taking V2O3 nanorings as non-noble-metal-free nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) catalysts, they show desired electrocatalytic performance toward NRR under ambient conditions (maximum yield: 47.2 µg h−1 mgcat.−1 at −0.6 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode, maximum Faraday efficiency: 12.5% at −0.5 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode), which is significantly higher than those of noble metal-based catalysts.

Room Temperature Surface Modification of Ultrathin FeOOH Cocatalysts on Fe2O3 Photoanodes for High Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

An ultrathin FeOOH cocatalyst is deposited on α-Fe2O3 photoanodes in a simple room temperature immersion process for efficient photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. The prepared FeOOH/Fe2O3 photoanode has a photocurrent density of up to 2.4 mA/cm2 at 1.23 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), and the photocurrent density is increased by about 160% compared to the bare Fe2O3 of 1.55 mA/cm2. An obvious cathodic shift of the photocurrent onset potential from 0.661 to 0.582 V was also observed, and excellent stability was maintained with almost no deterioration for 5 h. The enhanced PEC performance is attributed to the decrease of the interfacial resistance between electrode and electrolyte and the increase of the injection efficiency of holes in Fe2O3.

An ultrasmall Ru2P nanoparticles–reduced graphene oxide hybrid: an efficient electrocatalyst for NH3 synthesis under ambient conditions

A Ru2P–reduced graphene oxide hybrid acts as a superior catalyst for electrochemical N2 fixation in 0.1 M HCl, achieving a large NH3 yield of 32.8 μg h−1mgcat.−1 and a high faradaic efficiency of 13.04%−0.05 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode.

Ti3+ self-doped TiO2−x nanowires for efficient electrocatalytic N2 reduction to NH3

Ti3+–TiO2−x/TM behaves as an efficient electrocatalyst for ambient N2-to-NH3 fixation with a high faradaic efficiency of 14.62% and a NH3 yield of 3.51 × 10−11 mol s−1 cm−2 at −0.55 V versus a reversible hydrogen electrode in 0.1 M Na2SO4.

Boron-doped CuO nanobundles for electroreduction of carbon dioxide to ethylene

Herein, we synthesize B-doped CuO nanobundles for electrocatalytic CO2 reduction. Ethylene is the only multi-carbon product and a maximum ethylene faradaic efficiency (FE) of 58.4% can be achieved at −1.1 V (versus the reversible hydrogen electrode).

Promoting electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction to ammonia via Fe-boosted nitrogen activation on MnO2 surfaces

Fe-doped MnO2 shows excellent NRR behaviour including a high faradaic efficiency of 16.8%, a high NH3 formation rate of 39.2 μg h−1 mgcat.−1 at −0.29 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode in 0.1 M Na2SO4, and good stability.