Palladium Nanoparticles towards Highly Efficient Electrochemical Nitrogen Fixation

Ammonia is playing a vital role in the sustainability of human development as artificial fertilizer, and an energy carrier to store and transport renewable energy. There are different ways to synthesize ammonia i.e., the Haber-Bosch process, the electrochemical process, homogenous catalysis, etc. Each year, around 150 million tons of NH₃ are produced globally through the Haber−Bosch process, which consumes 3−5% of the annual natural gas production worldwide, approximating to 1−2% of the global annual energy supply. Due to the limited supply of fossil fuels, there is a critical demand to use renewable energy to drive the chemical processes that have heavily relied on the consumption of fossil fuels. And also, it is highly desirable to develop an alternative, efficient process for NH₃ synthesis, which can simultaneously reduce the CO₂ emissions. The electrochemical nitrogen fixation under mild conditions is a promising alternative to the current nitrogen industry. We have observed nitrogen fixation by electrochemical approach due to its simplicity, low cost and speed. We used palladium (Pd) as a cathode, platinum (Pt) as an anode and Pd nanoparticles in LiOH solution. In addition, we are developing measurement techniques to quantitatively measure the production of ammonia.