Single-atom catalysts supported on a hybrid structure of boron nitride/graphene for efficient nitrogen fixation via synergistic interfacial interactions

Abstract

Hexagonal boron nitride (BN) shows significant chemical stability and promising thermal nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) activity but suffers from low conductivity in electrolysis with a wide band gap. To overcome this problem, two-dimensional (2D) BN and graphene (G) are designed as a heterostructure, namely BN/G. According to density functional theory (DFT), the higher conductivity of G narrows the band gap of BN by inducing some electronic states near the Fermi energy level (Ef). Once transition metals (TMs) are anchored in the BN/G structure as single atom catalysts (SACs), the NRR activity improves as the inert BN basal layer activates with moderate *NH2 binding energy and further the band gap is reduced to zero. V (vanadium) and W (tungsten) SACs exhibit the best performance with limiting potentials of −0.22 and −0.41 V, respectively. This study helps in understanding the improvement of the NRR activity of BN, providing physical insights into the adsorbate-TM interaction. © 2024 The Royal Society of Chemistry.