Antimony‐Based Composites Loaded on Phosphorus‐Doped Carbon for Boosting Faradaic Efficiency of the Electrochemical Nitrogen Reduction Reaction

Abstract A nanocomposite of PC/Sb/SbPO 4 (PC, phosphorus‐doped carbon) exhibits a high activity and an excellent selectivity for efficient electrocatalytic conversion of N 2 to NH 3 in both acidic and neutral electrolytes under ambient conditions. At a low reductive potential of −0.15 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), the PC/Sb/SbPO 4 catalyst achieves a high Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 31 % for ammonia production in 0.1 m HCl under mild conditions. In particular, a remarkably high FE value of 34 % is achieved at a lower reductive potential of −0.1 V (vs. RHE) in a 0.1 m Na 2 SO 4 solution, which is better than most reported electrocatalysts towards the nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) in neutral electrolyte under mild conditions. The change in surface species and electrocatalytic performance before and after N 2 reduction is explored by an ex situ method. PC and SbPO 4 are both considered as the active species that enhanced the performance of NRR.