Commercial indium-tin oxide glass: A catalyst electrode for efficient N2 reduction at ambient conditions

The typical Haber technical process for industrial NH 3 production involves plenty of energy-consumption and large quantities of greenhouse gas emission . In contrast, electrochemical N 2 reduction proffers environment-friendly and energy-efficient avenues to synthesize NH 3 at mild conditions but demands efficient electrocatalysts for the N 2 reduction reaction (NRR). Herein we report for the first time that commercial indium-tin oxide glass (ITO/G) can be used as a catalyst electrode toward artificial N 2 fixation, as it demonstrates excellent selectivity at mild conditions. Such ITO/G delivers excellent NRR performance with a NH 3 yield of 1.06 × 10 −10 mol s −1 cm −2 and a faradaic efficiency of 6.17% at –0.40 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) in 0.5 M LiClO 4 . Furthermore, the ITO/G also possesses good electrochemical stability and durability. Finally, the possible reaction mechanism for the NRR on the ITO catalysts was explored using first-principles calculations.