TY - JOUR
T1 - Continuous-flow electrosynthesis of ammonia by nitrogen reduction and hydrogen oxidation
AU - Fu, Xianbiao
AU - Pedersen, Jakob B.
AU - Zhou, Yuanyuan
AU - Saccoccio, Mattia
AU - Li, Shaofeng
AU - Sažinas, Rokas
AU - Li, Katja
AU - Andersen, Suzanne Z.
AU - Xu, Aoni
AU - Deissler, Niklas H.
AU - Valbæk Mygind, Jon Bjarke
AU - Wei, Chao
AU - Kibsgaard, Jakob
AU - Vesborg, Peter C.K.
AU - Nørskov, Jens K.
AU - Chorkendorff, Ib
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 American Association for the Advancement of Science. All rights reserved.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Ammonia is a critical component in fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, and fine chemicals and is an ideal, carbon-free fuel. Recently, lithium-mediated nitrogen reduction has proven to be a promising route for electrochemical ammonia synthesis at ambient conditions. In this work, we report a continuous-flow electrolyzer equipped with 25-square centimeter-effective area gas diffusion electrodes wherein nitrogen reduction is coupled with hydrogen oxidation. We show that the classical catalyst platinum is not stable for hydrogen oxidation in the organic electrolyte, but a platinum-gold alloy lowers the anode potential and avoids the decremental decomposition of the organic electrolyte. At optimal operating conditions, we achieve, at 1 bar, a faradaic efficiency for ammonia production of up to 61 ± 1% and an energy efficiency of 13 ± 1% at a current density of −6 milliamperes per square centimeter.
AB - Ammonia is a critical component in fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, and fine chemicals and is an ideal, carbon-free fuel. Recently, lithium-mediated nitrogen reduction has proven to be a promising route for electrochemical ammonia synthesis at ambient conditions. In this work, we report a continuous-flow electrolyzer equipped with 25-square centimeter-effective area gas diffusion electrodes wherein nitrogen reduction is coupled with hydrogen oxidation. We show that the classical catalyst platinum is not stable for hydrogen oxidation in the organic electrolyte, but a platinum-gold alloy lowers the anode potential and avoids the decremental decomposition of the organic electrolyte. At optimal operating conditions, we achieve, at 1 bar, a faradaic efficiency for ammonia production of up to 61 ± 1% and an energy efficiency of 13 ± 1% at a current density of −6 milliamperes per square centimeter.
UR - https://doi.org/10.11583/DTU.21728168.v1
U2 - 10.1126/science.adf4403
DO - 10.1126/science.adf4403
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 36795804
AN - SCOPUS:85148261186
SN - 0036-8075
VL - 379
SP - 707
EP - 712
JO - Science
JF - Science
IS - 6633
ER -