Dual-site collaboration boosts electrochemical nitrogen reduction on Ru-S-C single-atom catalyst

Electrocatalytic reduction of nitrogen into ammonia (NH 3 ) is a highly attractive but challenging route for NH 3 production. We propose to realize a synergetic work of multi reaction sites to overcome the limitation of sustainable NH 3 production. Herein, using ruthenium-sulfur-carbon (Ru-S-C) catalyst as a prototype, we show that the Ru/S dual-site cooperates to catalyse eletrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (eNRR) at ambient conditions. With the combination of theoretical calculations, in situ Raman spectroscopy, and experimental observation, we demonstrate that such Ru/S dual-site cooperation greatly facilitates the activation and first protonation of N 2 in the rate-determining step of eNRR. As a result, Ru-S-C catalyst exhibits significantly enhanced eNRR performance compared with the routine Ru-N-C catalyst via a single-site catalytic mechanism. We anticipate that our specifically designed dual-site collaborative catalytic mechanism will open up a new way to offers new opportunities for advancing sustainable NH 3 production.