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Updated: Jan 22, 2026

Synthesis and Performance Characterizations of Transition Metal Single Atom Catalyst for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction
Published on: April 10, 2018
Single-Atom Catalysts for the Electrocatalytic Reduction of Nitrogen to Ammonia under Ambient Conditions
Yuan Qiu1, Xianyun Peng1, Fang Lü1
1Center for Electron Microscopy and Tianjin Key Lab of Advanced Functional Porous Materials, Institute for New Energy Materials and Low-Carbon Technologies, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin, 300384, China.
Abstract:
Powered by renewable electricity, the electrochemical reduction of nitrogen to ammonia is proposed as a promising alternative to the energy- and capital-intensive Haber-Bosch process, and has thus attracted much attention from the scientific community. However, this process suffers from low NH3 yields and Faradaic efficiency. The development of more effective electrocatalysts is of vital importance for the practical applications of this reaction. Of the reported catalysts, single-atom catalysts (SACs) show the significant advantages of efficient atom utilization and unsaturated coordination configurations, which offer great scope for optimizing their catalytic performance. Herein, progress in state-of-the-art SACs applied in the electrocatalytic N2 reduction reaction (NRR) is discussed, and the main advantages and challenges for developing more efficient electrocatalysts are also highlighted.
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