Proceedings of MATSUS Spring 2025 Conference (MATSUSSpring25)
Publication date: 16th December 2024
The electrochemical ammonia synthesis (EAS) via the nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) in aqueous electrolytes offers a lot of promise for the decentralized production of indispensable ammonia. However, activation of the nitrogen molecule and the at relevant potentials kinetically favored hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) result in low production rates and Faradaic efficiencies. These challenges make experimental studies of NRR catalysts prone to contamination leading to potentially false positives results [1]. Consequently, more research effort is needed to achieve industrial-relevant aqueous EAS.
A significant surface coverage of protons will lead to HER activity at potentials where NRR might occur. Various strategies are discussed to enhance the faradaic efficiencies of the NRR by limiting the competing HER [2]. For example, the selectivity is improved in alkaline electrolytes at the cost of lower activity. Other strategies employ aprotic, organic solvents and ionic liquids. Suryanto et al.[3] proposed a bifunctional Ru/MoS2 catalyst providing preferential adsorption sites for protons at the S-vacancies of the MoS2 substrate material that have a beneficial effect in preventing blocking of active sites for the NRR at the Ru clusters as well as providing protons for the formation of NH3 in a controlled manner. Tuning of the polymorphic properties of MoS2 enabled adjustment of its HER kinetics, where the semiconducting behavior of 2H-MoS2 inhibited the HER and consequently improved selectivity towards 17.6%.
Inspired by this study, herein we developed an analogous Ru/MoS2 material by a combined approach using metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) paired with electrochemical deposition techniques. The crystallinity of the 2H-MoS2 substrate material is tuned by varying the temperature in the MOCVD process [4]. Deposition of Ru is performed by an adopted MOCVD synthesis [5] or by electrochemical deposition from a RuCl3 solution [6]. The resulting Ru/MoS2 composite is analyzed dependent on varied synthesis parameters and regarding Ru loading, MoS2 crystallinity, catalyst morphology and HER activity. For this purpose, scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy as well as electrochemical characterization were performed. Thus, evaluation of the most efficient strategy to prepare the desired Ru/MoS2 composite is possible. Preliminary quantitative NRR investigations will be presented to show the potential of the Ru/MoS2 composite for catalyzing the NRR.
This work was funded by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG, project number 502054395) within the priority program SPP 2370.
nanoGe is a prestigious brand of successful science conferences that are developed along the year in different areas of the world since 2009. Our worldwide conferences cover cutting-edge materials topics like perovskite solar cells, photovoltaics, optoelectronics, solar fuel conversion, surface science, catalysis and two-dimensional materials, among many others.
Previously nanoGe Spring Meeting (NSM) and nanoGe Fall Meeting (NFM), MATSUS is a multiple symposia conference focused on a broad set of topics of advanced materials preparation, their fundamental properties, and their applications, in fields such as renewable energy, photovoltaics, lighting, semiconductor quantum dots, 2-D materials synthesis, charge carriers dynamics, microscopy and spectroscopy semiconductors fundamentals, etc.
International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics
International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV) is celebrated yearly in May. The main topics are the development, function and modeling of materials and devices for hybrid and organic solar cells. The field is now dominated by perovskite solar cells but also other hybrid technologies, as organic solar cells, quantum dot solar cells, and dye-sensitized solar cells and their integration into devices for photoelectrochemical solar fuel production.
Asia-Pacific International Conference on Perovskite, Organic Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics
The main topics of the Asia-Pacific International Conference on Perovskite, Organic Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics (IPEROP) are discussed every year in Asia-Pacific for gathering the recent advances in the fields of material preparation, modeling and fabrication of perovskite and hybrid and organic materials. Photovoltaic devices are analyzed from fundamental physics and materials properties to a broad set of applications. The conference also covers the developments of perovskite optoelectronics, including light-emitting diodes, lasers, optical devices, nanophotonics, nonlinear optical properties, colloidal nanostructures, photophysics and light-matter coupling.
The International Conference on Perovskite Thin Film Photovoltaics Perovskite Photonics and Optoelectronics (NIPHO) is the best place to hear the latest developments in perovskite solar cells as well as on recent advances in the fields of perovskite light-emitting diodes, lasers, optical devices, nanophotonics, nonlinear optical properties, colloidal nanostructures, photophysics and light-matter coupling.