Synergistic Effect of Oxygen Vacancies and Low-Valent Bismuth on the Surface of Bi2moo6 Nanosheets for Boosting Electrocatalytic N2 Reduction

The electrocatalysis nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) has been accepted as a sustainable method for N 2 fixation. However, N 2 adsorption and the cleavage of triple bond in N 2 molecules are the main challenges for the NRR. In this work, an I - assisted one-step hydrothermal method was developed to prepare Bi 2 MoO 6 nanosheets with oxygen vacancies (OVs) and low-valent bismuth on the surface. The introduction of OVs makes Bi 2 MoO 6 nanosheets possess rich unsaturated coordination surface atoms, and enhances the conductivity and N 2 adsorption. Temperature-programmed desorption and in situ infrared spectra were conducted to identify the efficient adsorption and protonation of nitrogen over OVs-Bi 2 MoO 6 catalyst. The obtained Bi 2 MoO 6 nanosheets achieved high activity and selectivity in NRR with an ammonia yield rate of ~24.38 μg·mg −1 h −1 and a high Faradaic efficiency of 14.1% at −0.3 V vs RHE in 0.1M HCl solution. A feasible mechanism was proposed for the enhanced NRR catalytic activity on OVs-Bi 2 MoO 6 catalyst