title: Facet-dependent solar ammonia synthesis of BiOCl nanosheets via a proton-assisted electron transfer pathway.
abstract: Under the pressure of a fossil fuels shortage and global climate change, solar ammonia synthesis and the need to develop N2 fixation under mild conditions is becoming more urgent need; however, their intrinsic mechanisms still remain unclear. Herein, we demonstrate that the kinetic inertia of N2 can be overcome using oxygen vacancies (OVs) of BiOCl as the catalytic centers to create lower energy molecular steps, which are amendable for the solar light driven N-N triple bond cleavage via a proton-assisted electron transfer pathway. Moreover, the distinct structures of OVs on different BiOCl facets strongly determine the N2 fixation pathways by influencing both the adsorption structure and the activation level of N2. The fixation of terminal end-on bound N2 on the OVs of BiOCl {001} facets follows an asymmetric distal mode by selectively generating NH3, while the reduction of side-on bridging N2 on the OVs of BiOCl {010} facets is more energetically favorable in a symmetric alternating mode to produce N2H4 as the main intermediate.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Pesticide & Chemical Biology of Ministry of Education, Institute of Environmental Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, P. R. China. zhanglz@mail.ccnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Pesticide & Chemical Biology of Ministry of Education, Institute of Environmental Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, P. R. China. zhanglz@mail.ccnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Pesticide & Chemical Biology of Ministry of Education, Institute of Environmental Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, P. R. China. zhanglz@mail.ccnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jingu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Pesticide & Chemical Biology of Ministry of Education, Institute of Environmental Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, P. R. China. zhanglz@mail.ccnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Kun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Pesticide & Chemical Biology of Ministry of Education, Institute of Environmental Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, P. R. China. zhanglz@mail.ccnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Lizhi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang