How the Bioinspired Fe2Mo6S8 Chevrel Breaks Electrocatalytic Nitrogen Reduction Scaling Relations

Singstock, Nicholas R.; Musgrave, Charles B.

doi:10.1021/jacs.2c03661

How the Bioinspired Fe₂Mo₆S₈ Chevrel Breaks Electrocatalytic Nitrogen Reduction Scaling Relations

Journal Article · Mon Jul 11 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · Journal of the American Chemical Society

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c03661· OSTI ID:1879980

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Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States); University of Colorado Boulder
Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)

The nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) is a renewable alternative to the energy- and CO₂-intensive Haber–Bosch NH₃ synthesis process but is severely limited by the low activity and selectivity of studied electrocatalysts. The Chevrel phase Fe₂Mo₆S₈ has a surface Fe–S–Mo coordination environment that mimics the nitrogenase FeMo-cofactor and was recently shown to provide state-of-the-art activity and selectivity for NRR. Here, we elucidate the previously unknown NRR mechanism on Fe₂Mo₆S₈ via grand-canonical density functional theory (GC-DFT) that realistically models solvated and biased surfaces. Fe sites of Fe₂Mo₆S₈ selectively stabilize the key *NNH intermediate via a narrow band of free-atom-like surface d-states that selectively hybridize with p-states of *NNH, which results in Fe sites breaking NRR scaling relationships. These sharp d-states arise from an Fe–S bond dissociation during N₂ adsorption that mimics the mechanism of the nitrogenase FeMo-cofactor. Furthermore, we developed a new GC-DFT-based approach for calculating transition states as a function of bias (GC-NEB) and applied it to produce a microkinetic model for NRR at Fe₂Mo₆S₈ that predicts high activity and selectivity, in close agreement with experiments. Furthermore, our results suggest new design principles that may identify effective NRR electrocatalysts that minimize the barriers for *N₂ protonation and *NH₃ desorption and that may be broadly applied to the rational discovery of stable, multinary electrocatalysts for other reactions where narrow bands of surface d-states can be tuned to selectively stabilize key reaction intermediates and guide selectivity toward a target product. Furthermore, our results highlight the importance of using GC-DFT and GC-NEB to accurately model electrocatalytic reactions.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0022247

OSTI ID:: 1879980

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1885557

Journal Information:: Journal of the American Chemical Society, Journal Name: Journal of the American Chemical Society Journal Issue: 28 Vol. 144; ISSN 0002-7863

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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How the Bioinspired Fe2Mo6S8 Chevrel Breaks Electrocatalytic Nitrogen Reduction Scaling Relations

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How the Bioinspired Fe₂Mo₆S₈ Chevrel Breaks Electrocatalytic Nitrogen Reduction Scaling Relations