Construction of electron rich Fe active sites by FeCu alloy anchoring on carbon nitride for photocatalytic nitrogen reduction

Abstract Given the clean and inexhaustible solar energy from solar light, photocatalytic ammonia synthesis is extremely appealing. However, high electron–hole recombination rates and insufficient active sites severely limited N 2 photoreaction reduction. Herein, we designed and fabricated FeCu alloy nanoparticles anchored on carbon nitride nanosheets with excellent photocatalytic ammonia synthesis performance. As a coupler between Fe and carbon nitride, Cu promotes the separation of photogenerated charge carriers in carbon nitride under solar light irradiation, and renters the semiconductor a forceful electron donor for the Fe active sites. The accumulated electrons at Fe sites furtherly facilitated the adsorption and activation of the molecular nitrogen. Besides, the uniform dispersed FeCu alloy nanoparticles were on carbon nitride nanosheets enhanced the stability of photocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction, making the artificial photocatalytic ammonia synthesis more sustainable for application. This work highlights that a direct electron transfer channel can be used to regulate the photochemical nitrogen fixation network.