A sulfonate group functionalized active carbon-based Cu catalyst for electrochemical ammonia synthesis under ambient conditions

Abstract

Ammonia is a large-scale commodity chemical that is crucial for producing nitrogen-containing fertilizers. Recently, the electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) has attracted worldwide research attention as a promising route to achieve green and sustainable ammonia. Here, under ambient conditions, a facile strategy was developed for fabrication of a copper-based catalyst supported on sulfonate group functionalized activated carbon (Cu/AC-S), which shows superior NRR activity with a high NH₃ yield rate of 9.7 μg h⁻¹ mg⁻¹ and a faradaic efficiency of 15.9% at −0.3 V (vs. reversible hydrogen electrode, RHE), due to the suppression of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) caused by the sulfonate group.