Citation: Tan Zhang, Zhikai Che, Yuru Song, Jinping Li, Yuhan Sun, Guang Liu. Reinforced nitrogen fixation via synergistic Ru-Ni dual sites[J]. Chinese Chemical Letters, ;2025, 36(9): 111295. doi: 10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111295 shu

Reinforced nitrogen fixation via synergistic Ru-Ni dual sites

Tan Zhang ^{a, b} ,
Zhikai Che ^a ,
Yuru Song ^a ,
Jinping Li ^{a, b, *,} ,
Yuhan Sun ^b ,
Guang Liu ^{a, *,}

a.
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanxi Key Laboratory of Gas Energy Efficient and Clean Utilization, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
b.
Shanxi Research Institute of Huairou Laboratory, Taiyuan 030031, China

jpli211@hotmail.com

liuguang@tyut.edu.cn

Received Date: 15 December 2024
Revised Date: 6 May 2025
Accepted Date: 9 May 2025
Available Online: 9 May 2025

Figures(5)

The electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) is challenging but crucial for the sustainable development of both industry and agriculture. To enhance NRR performance, it is critically important to construct advanced electrocatalysts that offer satisfactory performance containing high activity and selectivity. However, the strong affinity of nitrogen-containing species on the Ru surface resulted in suboptimal NRR activity. Herein, we propose a dual-site catalyst, RuNi, to optimize the binding strength, which leads to superior electrocatalytic performance, achieving a high NH₃ yield rate of 5.07 µg h^-1 cm^-2 at -0.2 V vs. RHE and a Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 26.2% at -0.1 V vs. RHE in 0.1 mol/L Na₂SO₄. Owing to the synergistic interaction between Ru and Ni, a remarkable performance is realized over the RuNi catalyst. In-situ characterization evidenced that hydrogen radicals (H*) on the Ni site of the RuNi catalyst participate in the dissociation of N₂ adsorbed on the Ru site, and theoretical investigations indicated that RuNi reduces the adsorption strength of intermediates. This offers an effective approach to the synthesis of dual-site catalysts for electrocatalytic ammonia synthesis.
- Nitrogen reduction reaction,
- Dual-site catalyst,
- Hydrogen radical,
- N₂ adsorption/activation,
- Electrocatalysis
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