Reactivity of nitrogen atoms from Zif-8 structure deposited over Ti3C2 MXene in the electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction
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Updated: Jul 21, 2025

Synthesis and Performance Characterizations of Transition Metal Single Atom Catalyst for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction
Published on: April 10, 2018
André L A Marinho1, Clément Comminges1, Aurélien Habrioux1
1Institut de Chimie des Milieux et Matériaux de Poitiers (IC2MP), University of Poitiers, CNRS UMR 7285, TSA51106 - F86073, Poitiers Cedex 9, France. andre.luiz.marinho@univ-poitiers.fr.
Abstract:
The electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) to produce NH3 is the most efficient, eco-friendly and cost-effective alternative to the Haber-Bosch process. It is crucial to investigate and develop electrocatalysts selective for NH3 synthesis. In recent studies, the Ti3C2 MXene has emerged as a highly promising electrocatalyst for the NRR process. In this work, we explore the effect of Zif-8 addition over MXene sheets in order to control the rate of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Despite the better result obtained for Zif-8@Ti3C2 (3.0 μg NH3 gcat-1 h-1 at -0.55 V/RHE), the ammonia produced when using Zif-8@Ti3C2 as cathode material is shown to be originated from nitrogen atoms contained in the Zif-8 structure instead of those of N2. The results shed light to the need to fully understand the N2 electroreduction process over N-containing electrocatalysts.
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