Molybdenum Carbide Nanodots Enable Efficient Electrocatalytic Nitrogen Fixation under Ambient Conditions

Electrocatalytic nitrogen fixation is considered a promising approach to achieve NH3 production. However, due to the chemical inertness of nitrogen, it is necessary to develop efficient catalysts to facilitate the process of nitrogen reduction. Here, molybdenum carbide nanodots embedded in ultrathin carbon nanosheets (Mo2C/C) are developed to serve as a catalyst candidate for highly efficient and robust N2 fixation through an electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR). The as‐synthesized Mo2C/C nanosheets show excellent catalytic performance with a high NH3 yield rate (11.3 µg h−1 mg−1 Mo2C) and Faradic efficiency (7.8%) for NRR under ambient conditions. More importantly, the isotopic experiments using 15N2 as a nitrogen source confirm that the synthesized ammonia is derived from the direct supply of nitrogen. This result also demonstrates the possibility of high‐efficiency nitrogen reduction even though accompanied with vigorous hydrogen evolution. An effective size‐control synthesis strategy is proposed to endow the nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) performance of Mo2C nanodots by boosting nitrogen adsorption and activation. The Mo2C nanodots show excellent NRR catalytic performance with a high NH3 yield rate (11.3 µg h−1 mg−1 Mo2C) under ambient conditions. This result demonstrates the possibility of high‐efficiency nitrogen reduction even though accompanied with vigorous hydrogen evolution.