Electrochemical Reduction of Nitrogen to Ammonia under Ambient Conditions

Abstract

Ammonia is one of the most important feedstocks in the modern chemical industry. The mass production of ammonia was enabled by the Haber-Bosch process which is very energy-intensive. The electrochemical ammonia synthesis approach has emerged as a promising method as it allows the direct utilization of electricity generated by renewable energy systems (e.g., wind and solar). However, fundamentally, the reaction of nitrogen reduction to ammonia (NRR) is kinetically sluggish and suffers from poor selectivity due to the competing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) that is more favorable under most conditions. Hence, this thesis is aimed at the development of novel catalysts and electrolyte systems to shift the balance of the reactions towards favoring NRR.