Phosphorus-doped Ti3C2Tx MXene nanosheets enabling ambient NH3 synthesis with high current densities

Abstract

Herein, we show that P-doped Ti3C2Tx MXene nanosheets can effectively catalyze the NO3RR-to-NH3 with a high Faradaic efficiency of 95% and a yield rate of 5.39 mg h–1 mgcat.–1. More importantly, the catalyst achieves an impressive high current density of –1200 mA cm–2 at a low potential of –1.51 V, accompanied by an NH3 productivity of 123.5 mg h–1 mgcat.–1. Theoretical calculations further reveal that phosphorous dopants facilitate the adsorption and activation of reactants/intermediates and thus lower the energy barrier.