Proceedings of MATSUS Spring 2025 Conference (MATSUSSpring25)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.matsusspring.2025.442
Publication date: 16th December 2024
Ammonia is not only an essential component in fertilisers for agriculture but is also emerging as a promising carbon-free fuel and energy carrier for the future. However, its production remains heavily reliant on the Haber-Bosch process, which is environmentally damaging and only works well in large scale centralsied facilities. Despite extensive research, a viable alternative process has yet to be realised. An electrochemical approach, operating under ambient conditions, holds great promise by enabling decentralised, on-demand ammonia production.
To date, among solid electrodes, only lithium- and calcium-based systems in organic electrolytes have been unequivocally demonstrated to reduce nitrogen to ammonia. However, the current performance of these systems leaves considerable room for improvement.
To address this challenge, our research employs a multidisciplinary approach combining electrochemical methods, cryo-electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, electrochemical mass spectrometry, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and density functional theory (DFT). We aim to construct a comprehensive understanding of the reaction mechanisms and factors influencing electrochemical nitrogen reduction.
We focus on elucidating the roles of various components in the process, including the choice of cations, salts, electrolytes, and proton donors. Building on this understanding, we propose pathways to achieve higher reaction rates and improved efficiencies for nitrogen reduction, paving the way for scalable and environmentally friendly ammonia production.
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