Enhancing Green Ammonia Electrosynthesis Through Tuning Sn Vacancies in Sn-Based MXene/MAX Hybrids

Renewable energy driven N₂ electroreduction with air as nitrogen source holds great promise for realizing scalable green ammonia production. However, relevant out-lab research is still in its infancy. Herein, a novel Sn-based MXene/MAX hybrid with abundant Sn vacancies, Sn@Ti₂CT_X/Ti₂SnC–V, was synthesized by controlled etching Sn@Ti₂SnC MAX phase and demonstrated as an efficient electrocatalyst for electrocatalytic N₂ reduction. Due to the synergistic effect of MXene/MAX heterostructure, the existence of Sn vacancies and the highly dispersed Sn active sites, the obtained Sn@Ti₂CT_X/Ti₂SnC–V exhibits an optimal NH₃ yield of 28.4 µg h⁻¹ mg_cat⁻¹ with an excellent FE of 15.57% at − 0.4 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode in 0.1 M Na₂SO₄, as well as an ultra-long durability. Noticeably, this catalyst represents a satisfactory NH₃ yield rate of 10.53 µg h⁻¹ mg⁻¹ in the home-made simulation device, where commercial electrochemical photovoltaic cell was employed as power source, air and ultrapure water as feed stock. The as-proposed strategy represents great potential toward ammonia production in terms of financial cost according to the systematic technical economic analysis. This work is of significance for large-scale green ammonia production.