Nanostructured Bromide-Derived Ag Film: An Efficient Electrocatalyst for N₂ Reduction to NH₃ under Ambient Conditions

Electrochemical reduction has been regarded as a sustainable strategy to tackle energy-intensive operations by the Haber-Bosch process achieving catalytic conversion of N₂ to NH₃ under mild conditions. However, the challenge of N₂ electroconversion emphasizes the requirement of efficient electrocatalysts. In this paper, we report the development of porous bromide-derived Ag film (BD-Ag/AF) as an efficient electrocatalyst for N₂ reduction reaction. During electrochemical test, Br^- anions are released and adsorbed onto the surfaces of the electrode, suppressing hydrogen evolution reaction. Such BD-Ag/AF shows a high Faradaic efficiency of 7.36% at -0.6 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode in 0.1 M Na₂SO₄, which is higher than that (0.38%) of porous Ag film without Br^- anions. Moreover, it exhibits excellent long-term electrochemical durability.