Wang Qianxiao, Guo Pu, Li Huan, Long Jun, Yang Shaoxue, Xiao Jianping
State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, 116023, P. R. China.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P. R. China.
Small Methods. 2025 May;9(5):e2401208. doi: 10.1002/smtd.202401208. Epub 2024 Oct 14.
Ammonia is an important raw material for agricultural production, playing a key role in global food production. However, conventional ammonia synthesis resulted in extensive greenhouse gas emissions and huge energy consumption. Recently, researchers have proposed electrocatalytic reverse artificial nitrogen cycle (eRANC) routes to circumvent these issues, which can be driven by electrocatalysis and sustainable electricity. Here, a theoretical and computational perspective on the challenges and opportunities with the comparison with experimental results: electrochemical reduction of nitrate (eNORR) and nitrite (eNORR), electrochemical reduction of nitric oxide (eNORR) combined with oxidative nitrogen fixation are presented. By comparison, the N→NO→NH route is proposed as the most promising in case the NO solubility can be solved well in reactor design. Its high efficiency of ammonia production is demonstrated. Instead, the eNORR can be another choice because it is non-toxic and the solid-liquid interface is usually efficient for electrochemical reactions, while its low selectivity at low overpotentials is an issue. These fundamentals highlight the potential and key factors of eRANC as an efficient and sustainable route for ammonia production.
氨是农业生产的重要原料，在全球粮食生产中发挥着关键作用。然而，传统的氨合成会导致大量温室气体排放和巨大的能源消耗。最近，研究人员提出了电催化反向人工氮循环（eRANC）路线来规避这些问题，该路线可由电催化和可持续电力驱动。在此，从理论和计算角度探讨了与实验结果相比的挑战和机遇：介绍了硝酸盐的电化学还原（eNORR）、亚硝酸盐的电化学还原（eNORR）、一氧化氮的电化学还原（eNORR）与氧化固氮相结合的情况。通过比较，在反应器设计中若能很好地解决NO的溶解性问题，N→NO→NH路线被认为是最有前景的。证明了其较高的产氨效率。相反，eNORR可以是另一种选择，因为它无毒且固液界面通常对电化学反应有效，但其在低过电位下的低选择性是一个问题。这些基本原理突出了eRANC作为一种高效且可持续的氨生产路线的潜力和关键因素。
