Pt/TiO2–x nanofibrous aerogel for effective nitrogen reduction: A simple strategy for simultaneous Pt formation and TiO2–x vacancy engineering

Abstract

Electrocatalysis plays an increasingly important role in converting atmospheric molecules (e.g., N2, CO2 and H2O) to value-added products (e.g., NH3, C2H4 and H2). However, developing a simple strategy for preparing catalysts with high performance for the effective conversion of clean energy is still full of challenges. Herein, we describe a straightforward, one-step reduction method to achieve the formation of Pt nanoparticles (NPs) and the vacancy engineering of TiO2–x nanofibers (NFs) simultaneously, which can be accomplished in 5 min. Furthermore, a Pt/TiO2–x nanofibrous aerogel (NA) with an ordered cellular architecture is prepared through a directional freezing technology. The Pt/TiO2–x NA with excellent mechanical properties can be made into a self-supporting electrode for electrocatalytic N2 reduction reaction (NRR), showing high NH3 yield rate (4.81 × 10–10 mol/s cm–2) and Faraday efficiency (14.9%) at –0.35 V vs. RHE.