Tungsten Nitride/Tungsten Oxide Nanosheets for Enhanced Oxynitride Intermediate Adsorption and Hydrogenation in Nitrate Electroreduction to Ammonia

• Published in: ACS nano 2023-12, Vol.17 (24), p.25091-25100
• Main Authors: Huang, Zhencong, Yang, Baopeng, Zhou, Yulong, Luo, Wuqing, Chen, Gen, Liu, Min, Liu, Xiaohe, Ma, Renzhi, Zhang, Ning
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1936-0851; 1936-086X
• DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.3c07734

Electrochemical NO3 – reduction reaction (NO3RR) is a promising technique for green NH3 synthesis. Tungsten oxide (WO3) has been regarded as an effective electrocatalyst for electrochemical NH3 synthesis. However, the weak adsorption and the sluggish hydrogenation of oxynitride intermediates (NO x , e.g., *NO3 and *NO2) over WO3 materials hinder the efficiency of converting NO3 – to NH3. Herein, we design a heterostructure of tungsten nitride (WN) and WO3 (WN/WO3) nanosheets to optimize *NO3 and *NO2 adsorptions and facilitate *NO2 hydrogenations to achieve a highly efficient electrochemical NO3RR to produce NH3. Theoretical calculations predict that locally introducing WN into WO3 will shorten the distance between adjacent W atoms, resulting in *NO3 and *NO2 being strongly adsorbed on W active sites in the form of bidentate ligands instead of the relatively weak monodentate ligands. Furthermore, WN facilitates H2O dissociation to supply the requisite protons, which is beneficial for *NO2 hydrogenations. Inspired by theoretical prediction, WN/WO3 nanosheets are successfully fabricated through a high-temperature nitridation process. The transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy investigations confirm that the amorphous WN has been locally introduced in situ into WO3 nanosheets to form a composite heterostructure. The as-prepared WN/WO3 nanosheets exhibit a high Faraday efficiency of 88.9 ± 7.2% and an appreciable yield rate of 8.4 mg h–1 cm–2 toward NH3 production, which is much higher than that of individual WO3 and WN. The enhanced adsorption and hydrogenation behaviors of *NO x over WN/WO3 are characterized by in situ Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, consistent with the theoretical predictions. This work develops facile and effective heterostructure nanomaterials to tune the adsorption and hydrogenation of NO x for boosting the efficiency from NO3 – to NH3.