The demand for ammonia has been increasing due to its widespread use in several core industrial sectors such as agriculture, transportation and explosives. Therefore, the development of an efficient process for ammonia production that currently consumes 2% of the world energy supply will be a major accomplishment. Among the alternative processes, high/intermediate temperature electrochemical production performed in a solid oxide electrochemical cell (SOEC)-type reactor offers significant advantages such as (i) ammonia production at atmospheric pressure and (ii) utilization of H2O as H+ source instead of using H2. In this process, N2 reacts with H2O to form NH3, H2 and O2- at the cathode side. Oxide ions are conducted through the solid oxide electrolyte and reach anode side where they recombine and form O2. The catalytic material selection for the working electrode (cathode) is one of the most important criteria in electrochemical processes. For the electrochemical production of ammonia from N2 and H2O, the cathode material should possess high electrical/ionic conductivity, as well as high selectivity towards nitrogen activation. Although perovskite-type mixed electronic and ionic conductive (MEIC) oxide materials are promising cathode catalysts due to their tunable electrical/ionic conductivity, they do not provide high activity for ammonia production. Mixed metal nitrides/oxynitrides are considered promising ammonia production catalysts due to the presence of lattice nitrogen in their structure which, in the presence of H2, can be converted to NH3 and N vacancies, but they do not have any ionic/electrical conductivity. In the present study, novel composite oxide/nitride cathodes that exhibit both oxygen and nitrogen ion mobility and electrical conductivity were synthesized, characterized using several ex-situ/in-situ/operando techniques and tested in a single-chamber solid oxide electrolyte cell (SOEC)-type reactor. The electrocatalytic activity experiments showed that the synergy between oxide and nitride phases significantly enhances the NH3 production rate.

Oxide/nitride novel composite cathodes for high-temperature electrocatalytic ammonia production at atmospheric pressure

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.