Main-group indium single-atom catalysts for electrocatalytic NO reduction to NH

Main-group metal elements show great potential for exploring high-performance catalysts for electrochemical reduction of NO to NH 3 (NORR) but remain largely unexplored. Herein, as a proof-of-concept, main-group In single atoms confined in an amorphous MoO 3 substrate (In 1 /a-MoO 3 ) are explored as an efficient NORR catalyst, showing a maximum NH 3 yield of 242.6 μmol h −1 cm −2 and NH 3 -faradaic efficiency of 92.8%. Further experiments and theoretical results identify single-site In atoms as the dominating active centers to simultaneously inhibit the hydrogen evolution and optimize the hydrogenation energetics of the NO-to-NH 3 pathway. In single atoms confined in amorphous MoO 3 (In 1 /a-MoO 3 ) are reported to be an efficient catalyst for NO electroreduction to NH 3 , attributed to the ability of single-site In to inhibit hydrogen evolution and optimize NO-to-NH 3 hydrogenation energetics.