Ambient N2 fixation to NH3 at ambient conditions: Using Nb2O5 nanofiber as a high-performance electrocatalyst

Ammonia (NH3), an important raw material for chemical industry and agriculture, is also considered to be an intriguing energy storage and transportation media for chemical conversion schemes. The world's primary NH3 supply is based on the natural nitrogen fixation by diazotrophs through an enzymatic nitrogenase process and the industrial nitrogen fixation through a traditional Haber–Bosch process. The natural synthesis of NH3 can hardly meet the rapidly growing global demand. Meanwhile, the industrial NH3 production is still dominated by the high‐temperature and high‐pressure reaction between nitrogen and hydrogen (N2 + 3H2 → 2NH3), requiring intensive energy input and generating massive CO2. Therefore, seeking a breakthrough in the development of catalysts toward efficient ammonia synthesis has become the frontier of energy and chemical conversion schemes. This review summarizes and discusses the recent progress on developing new strategies to optimize the efficiency of NH3 production coupled with renewable energy sources, with a specific focus on electrocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic conversion of N2 to NH3. The most recent advances in the development of catalytic materials, the design of the reaction systems, and the computational insights for electrochemical and photoelectrochemical ammonia synthesis are covered.

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Section: Advanced Catalysts For Nitrogen Conversion To Ammoniamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A Nb 2 O 5 nanofiber synthesized by Han et al was tested for NRR at ambient conditions . The synthesized Nb 2 O 5 nanofiber has a unique 1D porous structure (Figure c) with a high surface area of 122.1 m 2 g −1 .…”

Section: Advanced Catalysts For Nitrogen Conversion To Ammoniamentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Advanced Materials for Electrochemical and Photoelectrochemical Synthesis of Ammonia from Dinitrogen: One Step Closer to a Sustainable Energy Future

Yan

Xia

et al. 2019

Advanced Energy Materials

122

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“…While Ti atoms normally serve as the active sites in MXenes during NRR, with incorporation of Mo atoms into the MXenes, it was Mo atoms that became the active sites because of their stronger binding strength with dinitrogen . Other NRR materials are mainly transition metal oxides such as Nb 2 O 5 , Y 2 O 3 , MnO, Cr 2 O 3 , and La 2 O 3 . Overall, many transition metals and their compounds have been proposed for catalyzing NRR, among which Ru, Mo, Fe, and Ti‐based materials are highly recommended when only NRR is considered.…”

Section: Design Principles For Electrocatalystsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atomic Modulation, Structural Design, and Systematic Optimization for Efficient Electrochemical Nitrogen Reduction

et al. 2020

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Ammonia (NH3) is a pivotal precursor in fertilizer production and a potential energy carrier. Currently, ammonia production worldwide relies on the traditional Haber–Bosch process, which consumes massive energy and has a large carbon footprint. Recently, electrochemical dinitrogen reduction to ammonia under ambient conditions has attracted considerable interest owing to its advantages of flexibility and environmental friendliness. However, the biggest challenge in dinitrogen electroreduction, i.e., the low efficiency and selectivity caused by poor specificity of electrocatalysts/electrolytic systems, still needs to be overcome. Although substantial progress has been made in recent years, acquiring most available electrocatalysts still relies on low efficiency trial‐and‐error methods. It is thus imperative to establish some critical guiding principles for nitrogen electroreduction toward a rational design and accelerated development of this field. Herein, a basic understanding of dinitrogen electroreduction processes and the inherent relationships between adsorbates and catalysts from fundamental theory are described, followed by an outline of the crucial principles for designing efficient electrocatalysts/electrocatalytic systems derived from a systematic evaluation of the latest significant achievements. Finally, the future research directions and prospects of this field are given, with a special emphasis on the opportunities available by following the guiding principles.

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“…Previous studies have proved that noble‐metal based catalysts are efficient N 2 reduction reaction (NRR) electrocatalysts, but their large‐scale uses are severely limited by the high cost and rareness. Considerable recent attention has thus focused on earth‐abundant transition metal‐based alternatives to effectively catalyze the NRR . Nevertheless, metal ions may be released from such catalysts, leading to environmental pollution.…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Oxygen‐Doped Porous Carbon Nanosheet for Efficient N₂ Fixation to NH₃ at Ambient Conditions

Chen

Huang

et al. 2019

ChemistrySelect

Self Cite

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NH3 is one of the largest‐volume industrial chemicals synthesized in the world. It not only is a kind of important chemical base materials to produce fertilizers, plastics and explosives, but also can serve as a clean energy carrier with high hydrogen content for a sustainable energy supply. N2 is the most abundant gas in atmosphere, but its inert character caused by the strong triple bond, impedes itself from being converted to NH3. In nature, this shortcoming is overcome by biological N2 fixation utilizing nitrogenase enzymes. Industrially, fixation of N2‐to‐NH3 prevailingly depends on Haber‐Bosch process using Ru‐ or Fe‐based catalysts, but this process consumes large energy and emits heavy carbon which increases crisis of global warming.

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Ambient N2 fixation to NH3 at ambient conditions: Using Nb2O5 nanofiber as a high-performance electrocatalyst

Cited by 322 publications

References 45 publications

Recent Advanced Materials for Electrochemical and Photoelectrochemical Synthesis of Ammonia from Dinitrogen: One Step Closer to a Sustainable Energy Future

Recent Advanced Materials for Electrochemical and Photoelectrochemical Synthesis of Ammonia from Dinitrogen: One Step Closer to a Sustainable Energy Future

Atomic Modulation, Structural Design, and Systematic Optimization for Efficient Electrochemical Nitrogen Reduction

Oxygen‐Doped Porous Carbon Nanosheet for Efficient N₂ Fixation to NH₃ at Ambient Conditions

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Ambient N2 fixation to NH3 at ambient conditions: Using Nb2O5 nanofiber as a high-performance electrocatalyst

Cited by 322 publications

References 45 publications

Recent Advanced Materials for Electrochemical and Photoelectrochemical Synthesis of Ammonia from Dinitrogen: One Step Closer to a Sustainable Energy Future

Recent Advanced Materials for Electrochemical and Photoelectrochemical Synthesis of Ammonia from Dinitrogen: One Step Closer to a Sustainable Energy Future

Atomic Modulation, Structural Design, and Systematic Optimization for Efficient Electrochemical Nitrogen Reduction

Oxygen‐Doped Porous Carbon Nanosheet for Efficient N2 Fixation to NH3 at Ambient Conditions

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Oxygen‐Doped Porous Carbon Nanosheet for Efficient N₂ Fixation to NH₃ at Ambient Conditions