Recent advances in transition metal sulfide-based electrocatalysts and photocatalysts for nitrogen fixation

Ammonia production through electrocatalytic and photocatalytic N2 fixation approaches has attracted a huge interest as a sustainable and clean route owing to the use of renewable energy to drive the processes. However, these approaches do not fulfil the industrial requirement because of the poor catalytic activity and efficiency of the catalysts. Therefore, rationally designed and highly efficient catalysts are urgently needed. Transition metal sulfide-based catalysts have gained great research interest as promising materials to catalyze artificial ammonia synthesis due to their structural similarity to the active site of the natural nitrogenase. This review gives some insights into the recent progress on the developments of transition metal sulfide-based electrocatalysts and photocatalysts for nitrogen fixation to ammonia under ambient conditions. A prospect on the future develop-ment on the rational design of efficient metal sulfide-based catalysts for artificial N2 fixation is also discussed.