Amorphizing of Au Nanoparticles by CeO x –RGO Hybrid Support towards Highly Efficient Electrocatalyst for N 2 Reduction under Ambient Conditions

Ammonia synthesis is one of the most kinetically complex and energetically challenging chemical processes in industry and has used the Harber–Bosch catalyst for over a century, which is processed under both harsh pressure (150–350 atm) and hightemperature (623–823 K), wherein the energy and capital intensive Harber–Bosch process has a huge energy cost accounting for about 1%–3% of human's energy consumption. Therefore, there has been a rough and vigorous exploration to find an environmentally benign alternative process. As the amorphous material is in a metastable state and has many “dangling bonds”, it is more active than the crystallized one. In this paper, CeO x ‐induced amorphization of Au nanoparticles…

• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 51522101, 51631004, 51471075, 51401084
• CP
  China Postdoctoral Science Foundation

  Award: 2016M591498