Excavated cubic platinum-iridium alloy nanocrystals with high-index facets as highly efficient electrocatalysts in N2 fixation to NH3

Yu-Jie Mao; Lu Wei; Xin-Sheng Zhao; Yong-Sheng Wei; Jian-Wei Li; Tian Sheng; Fu-Chun Zhu; Na Tian; Zhi-You Zhou; Shi-Gang Sun

doi:10.1039/c9cc04034j

Excavated cubic platinum-iridium alloy nanocrystals with high-index facets as highly efficient electrocatalysts in N₂ fixation to NH₃

Chem Commun (Camb). 2019 Aug 14;55(63):9335-9338. doi: 10.1039/c9cc04034j. Epub 2019 Jul 17.

Authors

Yu-Jie Mao¹, Lu Wei², Xin-Sheng Zhao², Yong-Sheng Wei², Jian-Wei Li², Tian Sheng³, Fu-Chun Zhu⁴, Na Tian⁴, Zhi-You Zhou⁴, Shi-Gang Sun⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou 221116, China. lwei057@jsnu.edu.cn and State Key Lab of PCOSS, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. sgsun@xmu.edu.cn.
² School of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou 221116, China. lwei057@jsnu.edu.cn.
³ College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, 241000, China. tsheng@ahnu.edu.cn.
⁴ State Key Lab of PCOSS, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. sgsun@xmu.edu.cn.

PMID: 31313762
DOI: 10.1039/c9cc04034j

Abstract

Excavated cubic Pt₉₃Ir₇ alloy nanocrystals enclosed by high-index {710} facets exhibit excellent electrocatalytic properties for the nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) with a high faradaic efficiency (40.8%) and NH₃ production rate (28 μg h^-1 cm^-2). The presence of Ir on the Pt stepped surface suppresses the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and accelerates the NRR.