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

Abstract The typical Haber technical process for industrial NH3 production involves plenty of energy-consumption and large quantities of greenhouse gas emission. In contrast, electrochemical N2 reduction proffers environment-friendly and energy-efficient avenues to synthesize NH3 at mild conditions but demands efficient electrocatalysts for the N2 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 N2 fixation, as it demonstrates excellent selectivity at mild conditions. Such ITO/G delivers excellent NRR performance with a NH3 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 LiClO4. 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.