Layered-Double-Hydroxide Nanosheets as Efficient Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalysts for Dinitrogen Fixation.

Zhao, Yufei; Zhao, Yunxuan; Waterhouse, Geoffrey I N; Zheng, Lirong; Cao, Xingzong; Teng, Fei; Wu, Li-Zhu; Tung, Chen-Ho et al. · Adv Mater · 2017

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Semiconductor photocatalysis attracts widespread interest in water splitting, CO<sub>2</sub> reduction, and N<sub>2</sub> fixation. N<sub>2</sub> reduction to NH<sub>3</sub> is essential to the chemical industry and to the Earth's nitrogen cycle. Industrially, NH<sub>3</sub> is synthesized by the Haber-Bosch process under extreme conditions (400-500 °C, 200-250 bar), stimulating research into the development of sustainable technologies for NH<sub>3</sub> production. Herein, this study demonstrates that ultrathin layered-double-hydroxide (LDH) photocatalysts, in particular CuCr-LDH nanosheets, possess remarkable photocatalytic activity for the photoreduction of N<sub>2</sub> to NH<sub>3</sub> in water at 25 °C under visible-light irradiation. The excellent activity can be attributed to the severely distorted structure and compressive strain in the LDH nanosheets, which significantly enhances N<sub>2</sub> chemisorption and thereby promotes NH<sub>3</sub> formation.