Accelerating ammonia synthesis in a membraneless flow electrolyzer through coupling ambient dinitrogen oxidation and water splitting
The EFN research focused on the dinitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) to form ammonia (Figure 1), including novel electrocatalysts, reaction optimization, and exploring electrocatalytic mechanisms.13–20 Unfortunately, considering the inert molecular structure of N2 (bond energy: 940.95 kJ mol1 ) and ubiquitous ammonia in aqueous solutions, organic solvents, catalysts, membranes, etc., satisfactory results on NRR from H2O and N2 under ambient conditions are significantly limited.21–25 To date, the EFN process is still far from ideal. The intractable challenges remain in low efficiency, poor conversion, severe contamination, unsound mechanism, etc.22,25 Therefore, the need of superior and efficient protocols to enhance ENF performance is critical to overcome ammonia contamination. On top of that, the probing mechanism is also necessary to investigate
Ammonia and Hydrogen
