Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
6455296 | Catalysis Today | 2017 | 6 Pages |
â¢Ammonia was synthesised directly from wet N2 at intermediate temperature.â¢Ammonia was synthesised from wet N2 using a dual-chamber reactor.â¢O2â ion conduction of the oxide-carbonate composite electrolyte was used.â¢Catalytic activity for ammonia synthesis is promoted by oxygen vacancies.
A La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3âδ-Ce0.8Gd0.18Ca0.02O2âδ composite cathode was used to investigate the electrochemical synthesis of ammonia from wet nitrogen. Wet nitrogen was flown through a dual chamber reactor under atmospheric pressure leading to the successful synthesis of ammonia. Ammonia was synthesised at a rate of 1.5 Ã 10â10 mol sâ1 cmâ2 at 400 °C when applying a dc voltage of 1.4 V, which is the highest reported to date. This rate is twice that of the observed ammonia formation rate (7 Ã 10â11 mol sâ1 cmâ2) when Co-free cathode, La0.6Sr0.4FeO3âδ-Ce0.8Gd0.18Ca0.02O2âδ was used as the cathode catalyst. A higher catalytic activity for ammonia synthesis may be obtained when using a catalyst with high oxygen vacancies, with the introduction of oxygen vacancies at the cathode being a good strategy to improve the catalytic activity of ammonia synthesis.
Graphical abstractDownload high-res image (76KB)Download full-size image