Abstract

Abstract To search the new effective nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) electrocatalyst is very important for the ammonia-based industry. Herein, we reported the design of a novel NRR electrocatalyst with Ru NPs loaded on oxygen-vacancy TiO2 (Ru/TiO2-Vo). Structural characterizations revealed that oxygen vacancy was loaded in the matrix of Ru/TiO2-Vo. Electrocatalytic results indicated that Ru/TiO2-Vo showed good NRR performance (2.11 µg h−1 cm−2). Contrast tests showed that NRR property of Ru/TiO2-Vo was much better than those of Ru/TiO2(B) (0.53 µg h−1 cm−2) and Ru/P25 (0.42 µg h−1 cm−2). Furthermore, density functional theory calculation results indicated catalytic mechanism of NRR and rate-determining step (*N2 + 1/2H2 → *N+*NH) was the potential-determining step with the overpotential requirement of 0.21 V. A combination of electronic structure analysis and catalytic measurement shed light on the synergistic effect of Ru and oxygen vacancy on the NRR performance.

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