@article{Yuan2020, 
author = {Lu-Pan Yuan and Ze-Yuan Wu and Wen-Jie Jiang and Tang Tang and Shuai Niu and Jin-Song Hu},
title = {Phosphorus-doping activates carbon nanotubes for efficient electroreduction of nitrogen to ammonia},
year = {2020},
journal = {Nano Research},
volume = {13},
number = {5},
pages = {1376-1382},
keywords = {electrocatalysis, nitrogen reduction reaction, P-doped carbon nanotubes, active sites, reaction pathway},
url = {https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.1007/s12274-020-2637-8},
doi = {10.1007/s12274-020-2637-8},
abstract = {The electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) as an energy-efficient approach for ammonia synthesis is hampered by the low ammonia yield and ambiguous reaction mechanism. Herein, phosphorus-doped carbon nanotube (P-CNTs) is developed as an efficient metal-free electrocatalyst for NRR with a remarkable NH3 yield of 24.4 μg·h-1·mg-1cat. and partial current density of 0.61 mA·cm-2. Such superior activity is found to be from P doping and highly conjugated CNTs substrate. Experimental and theoretical investigations discover that the electron-deficient phosphorus sites with Lewis acidity should be genuine active sites and NRR on P-CNTs follows the distal pathway. These findings provide insightful understanding on NRR processes on P-CNTs, opening up opportunities for the rational design of highly-active cost-effective metal-free catalysts for electrochemical ammonia synthesis.}
}