Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18080-w
Title: Atomically-precise dopant-controlled single cluster catalysis for electrochemical nitrogen reduction
Authors: Yao, C.
Guo, N. 
Xi, S.
Xu, C.-Q.
Liu, W. 
Zhao, X. 
Li, J. 
Fang, H.
Su, J. 
Chen, Z. 
Yan, H. 
Qiu, Z. 
Lyu, P.
Chen, C.
Xu, H.
Peng, X.
Li, X. 
Liu, B.
Su, C.
Pennycook, S.J. 
Sun, C.-J.
Li, J.
Zhang, C. 
Du, Y.
Lu, J. 
Issue Date: 2020
Publisher: Nature Research
Citation: Yao, C., Guo, N., Xi, S., Xu, C.-Q., Liu, W., Zhao, X., Li, J., Fang, H., Su, J., Chen, Z., Yan, H., Qiu, Z., Lyu, P., Chen, C., Xu, H., Peng, X., Li, X., Liu, B., Su, C., Pennycook, S.J., Sun, C.-J., Li, J., Zhang, C., Du, Y., Lu, J. (2020). Atomically-precise dopant-controlled single cluster catalysis for electrochemical nitrogen reduction. Nature Communications 11 (1) : 4389. ScholarBank@NUS Repository. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18080-w
Rights: Attribution 4.0 International
Abstract: The ability to precisely engineer the doping of sub-nanometer bimetallic clusters offers exciting opportunities for tailoring their catalytic performance with atomic accuracy. However, the fabrication of singly dispersed bimetallic cluster catalysts with atomic-level control of dopants has been a long-standing challenge. Herein, we report a strategy for the controllable synthesis of a precisely doped single cluster catalyst consisting of partially ligand-enveloped Au4Pt2 clusters supported on defective graphene. This creates a bimetal single cluster catalyst (Au4Pt2/G) with exceptional activity for electrochemical nitrogen (N2) reduction. Our mechanistic study reveals that each N2 molecule is activated in the confined region between cluster and graphene. The heteroatom dopant plays an indispensable role in the activation of N2 via an enhanced back donation of electrons to the N2 LUMO. Moreover, besides the heteroatom Pt, the catalytic performance of single cluster catalyst can be further tuned by using Pd in place of Pt as the dopant. © 2020, The Author(s).
Source Title: Nature Communications
URI: https://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/198310
ISSN: 2041-1723
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18080-w
Rights: Attribution 4.0 International
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