Defective boron nitride nanosheets: an efficient non-metal catalyst for electrochemical reduction of NO to NH3

Electrochemical NO-to-NH3 reduction (NORR) offers an effective strategy to simultaneously realize polluted NO removal and valued ammonia production. Herein, defective BN nanosheets (D-BN) are firstly developed as a powerful non-metal catalyst for the NORR, which exhibits an NH3-faradaic efficiency of 92.1% and an NH3 yield rate of 192.4 mu mol h(-1) cm(-2) at -0.7 V (RHE). Mechanistic investigations unravel that B-vacancies on D-BN are essential in activating and hydrogenating NO whilst restricting the competing H-2 evolution, rendering the high NORR activity and selectivity of D-BN.