Electrochemical Reduction of N2 under Ambient Conditions for Artificial N2 Fixation and Renewable Energy Storage Using N2 /NH3 Cycle.

Using tetrahexahedral gold nanorods as a heterogeneous electrocatalyst, an electrocatalytic N2 reduction reaction is shown to be possible at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, with a high Faradic efficiency up to 4.02% at -0.2 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode (1.648 µg h-1 cm-2 and 0.102 µg h-1 cm-2 for NH3 and N2 H4 ·H2 O, respectively).