Disordered Au Nanoclusters for Efficient Ammonia Electrosynthesis.

The electrochemical nitrogen (N ) reduction reaction (N RR) under mild conditions is a promising and environmentally friendly alternative to the traditional Haber-Bosch process with high energy consumption and greenhouse emission for the synthesis of ammonia (NH ), but high-yielding production is rendered challenging by the strong nonpolar N≡N bond in N molecules, which hinders their dissociation or activation. In this study, disordered Au nanoclusters anchored on two-dimensional ultrathin Ti C T MXene nanosheets are explored as highly active and selective electrocatalysts for efficient N -to-NH conversion, exhibiting exceptional activity with an NH yield rate of 88.3±1.7 μg h  mg and a faradaic efficiency of 9.3±0.4 %. A combination of in situ near-ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and operando X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy is employed to unveil the uniqueness of this catalyst for N RR. The disordered structure is found to serve as the active site for N chemisorption and activation during the N RR process.