An ultrasmall Ru 2 P nanoparticles–reduced graphene oxide hybrid: an efficient electrocatalyst for NH 3 synthesis under ambient conditions

Industrial NH 3 synthesis highly relies on the Haber–Bosch process which consumes a large amount of energy and emits a massive amount of CO 2 . Electrochemical N 2 reduction is an eco-friendly and sustainable approach to realize NH 3 synthesis under ambient conditions, but its implementation requires efficient electrocatalysts for the N 2 reduction reaction. In this work, a hybrid of Ru 2 P nanoparticles and reduced graphene oxide is proposed as an efficient electrocatalyst for artificial N 2 -to-NH 3 fixation with excellent selectivity under ambient conditions. Electrochemical tests in 0.1 M HCl show that such a hybrid achieves a large NH 3 yield of 32.8 μg h −1 mg cat. −1 and a high faradaic efficiency of 13.04% at −0.05 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode. Furthermore, it also exhibits remarkable electrochemical and structural stability. Theoretical calculations reveal that Ru 2 P–rGO can efficiently catalyze NH 3 synthesis with a low energy barrier.