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

Supplementary files

Article information

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

Download Citation

Nanoscale, 2020,12, 12329-12335

Permissions

Request permissions

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

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

Nanoscale