Vanadium Diboride (VB2) for NO Electroreduction to NH3

Inorg Chem. 2023 Jun 12;62(23):8772-8777. doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.3c00451. Epub 2023 May 30.

Abstract

We report VB2 as an efficient electrocatalyst for NO-to-NH3 electroreduction (NORR), showing the highest NH3-Faradaic efficiency of 89.6% with the corresponding NH3 yield rate of 198.3 μmol h-1 cm-2 at -0.5 V vs RHE. Theoretical calculations demonstrate that B sites of VB2 act as the key active centers which can facilitate the NORR protonation energetics and inhibit the competitive hydrogen evolution, boosting both NORR activity and selectivity.