A spinel ferrite catalyst for efficient electroreduction of dinitrogen to ammonia

Ambient electrocatalytic N 2 reduction reaction (NRR) provides an eco-friendly way for artificial NH 3 production, while an efficient NRR process requires active and stable electrocatalysts. In this communication, we exploit the spinel ferrite NiFe 2 O 4 as a promising NRR catalyst. The developed NiFe 2 O 4 nanocubes/reduced graphene oxide (NiFe 2 O 4 /RGO) exhibited an appealing NRR performance with an NH 3 yield of 32.2 μg h −1 mg −1 and a faradaic efficiency (FE) of 9.8% at −0.5 V (RHE), as well as a high catalytic durability. Mechanistic investigations revealed that the surface Fe atoms serve as key NRR active sites for favorable N 2 adsorption and H + suppression. These findings may facilitate the understanding and exploration of Earth-abundant spinel ferrite catalysts for electrochemical dinitrogen fixation. The spinel ferrite NiFe 2 O 4 delivers high NRR activity and selectivity which is attributed to the surface Fe atoms that act as key NRR active sites for favorable N 2 adsorption and H + suppression.