Experimental Design for Accurate Reporting of Catalyst Activity in Nitrogen Reduction Experiments: Determination of the Optimal Membrane for Ammonia Retention

Ammonia synthesis from dinitrogen provides a critical feedstock to agriculture worldwide. The dominant process for ammonia synthesis, Haber-Bosch, is fossil-fuel dependent, energy intensive, and highly centralized. Electrochemical nitrogen reduction (ENRR) could provide a decentralized and environmentally friendly route to ammonia synthesis. ENRR research is challenging due to low amounts of ammonia produced in a typical experiment relative to environmental levels. In the first part of this presentation, we will share a critical result in ENRR experimental design which significantly improves the retention of generated ammonia, specifically related to the selection of membrane separators for H-cell or gas diffusion electrode cell platforms. This result is applicable to both dinitrogen and nitrate reduction research. In the second part of this presentation, a VS 2 -based ENRR catalyst, which has experimentally shown promising activity and selectivity, will be presented. Additionally, the proposed mechanism of ENRR on VS 2 will be discussed, and we will discuss density functional theory simulation of ENRR on VS 2 and MoS 2 . Finally, we will address areas of opportunity for ENRR.