| Summary: | <p>Electrochemical reduction of N<sub>2</sub> to NH<sub>3</sub> using renewable electricity is a simple and green NH<sub>3</sub> production method. Most reported catalytic systems, however, suffer from slow reaction kinetics, low N<sub>2</sub> adsorption, and reduction activity. Designing selective and energy-efficient electrocatalysts is highly desirable to enable both high faradic efficiency and NH<sub>3</sub> yield rate. Isolating Ru single atoms in N-doped porous carbon significantly promotes N<sub>2</sub>-to-NH<sub>3</sub> conversion, reaching an NH<sub>3</sub> formation rate of more than 3.6 mg<sub>N</sub>H3 h<sup>−</sup>1mg<sub>Ru</sub><sup>−</sup>1. The addition of ZrO<sub>2</sub> can effectively suppress the hydrogen evolution reaction, affording a large NH<sub>3</sub> faradic efficiency of up to 21% at a low overpotential (0.17 V). This work opens up opportunities for development of single-atom catalysts to facilitate efficient NH<sub>3</sub> synthesis.</p>
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