Self-assembly synthesis of Ni-decorated Nb2C MXene as an efficient and stable catalyst towards electrochemical nitrogen reduction

Abstract

Electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) is widely regarded as a green and environmentally sustainable strategy with the promise for industrial-scale ammonia synthesis under ambient conditions. To promote its industrialization, we synthesized an economical, efficient and stable Ni-decorated Nb2C (Ni@Nb2C) MXene-based catalyst. The Ni@Nb2C MXene displays excellent electrocatalytic NRR performance with NH3 yield of 26.16 μg cm−2 h−1 and Faradaic efficiency of 7.3%. Remarkably, the general methodology reported here paves the way to effectively synthesize various other metals-decorated MXenes, which not only enrich the MXene-based catalysts but also significantly promote their practical utilization in a wide range of environment- and energy-related fields. It is of great significance for the harmonious development of humans and nature.