Ru and RuOx decorated carbon nitride for efficient ammonia photosynthesis

Hui Wang; Xiyi Li; Qiushi Ruan; Junwang Tang

doi:10.1039/D0NR02527E

Ru and RuO_x decorated carbon nitride for efficient ammonia photosynthesis†

Hui Wang,

^a Xiyi Li,^a Qiushi Ruan

^a and Junwang Tang*^a

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a Solar Energy & Advanced Materials Research Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, UCL, Torrington Place, London, WC1E 7JE, UK
E-mail: junwang.tang@ucl.ac.uk

Abstract

Photocatalytic ammonia synthesis is a promising strategy for sustainable development compared to the energy-intensive industrial Haber–Bosch approach. Herein, a ternary heterostructure that consists of ruthenium species and carbon nitride (C₃N₄) was rationally explored for ammonia photosynthesis. Compared to the small ammonia yield from the g-C₃N₄ and Ru/g-C₃N₄ system, the Ru/RuO₂/g-C₃N₄ system represents 6 times higher activity with excellent stability under full-spectrum irradiation. Such an enhancement is not only due to efficient transfer of electrons and holes to Ru and RuO₂, respectively, facilitating both the reduction and oxidation reaction, but also taking advantage of Ru for N [triple bond, length as m-dash] N activation.

This article is part of the themed collections: Advanced Nanomaterials for Energy Conversion and Storage and Celebrating our 2021 Prizewinners

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Article information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D0NR02527E
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 30 Mar 2020
Accepted: 01 May 2020
First published: 01 May 2020
This article is Open Access

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Nanoscale, 2020,12, 12329-12335

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Ru and RuO_x decorated carbon nitride for efficient ammonia photosynthesis

H. Wang, X. Li, Q. Ruan and J. Tang, Nanoscale, 2020, 12, 12329 DOI: 10.1039/D0NR02527E

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