Industrial‐current Ammonia Synthesis by Polarized Cuprous Cyanamide Coupled to Valorization of Glycerol at 4,000 mA cm<sup>−2</sup>
Abstract
AbstractThe electrocatalytic nitrate reduction (NO3RR) holds significance in both NH3 synthesis and nitrate contamination remediation. However, achieving industrial‐scale current and high stability in membrane electrode assembly (MEA) electrolyzer remains challenging due to inherent high full‐cell voltage for sluggish NO3RR and water oxidation. Here, Cu2NCN with positive surface electrostatic potential VS(r) is applied as highly efficient NO3RR electrocatalysts to achieve industrial‐current and low‐voltage stable NH3 production in MEA electrolyzer with coupled anodic glycerol oxidation. This paired electro‐refinery (PER) system reaches 4000 mA cm−2 at 2.52 V and remains stable at industrial‐level 1000 mA cm−2 for 100 h with the NH3 production rate of 97000 µgNH3 h−1 cm−2 and a Faradaic efficiency of 83%. Theoretical calculations elucidate that the asymmetric and electron‐withdrawing [N−C≡N] units enhance polarization and VS(r), promoting robust and asymmetric adsorption of NO3* on Cu2NCN to facilitate O−N bond dissociation. A comprehensive techno‐economic analysis demonstrates the profitability and commercial viability of this coupled system. Our work opens a new avenue and marks a significant advancement in MEA systems for industrial NH3 synthesis.
Article Details
Authors (16)
Jiacheng (Jayden) Wang
State Key Laboratory of High‐Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure Shanghai Institute of Ceramics Chinese Academy of Sciences Shanghai 200050 China
Huong T. D. Bui
Department of Chemistry
Huashuai Hu
School of Environmental Science and Technology
Shuyi Kong
State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, School of Materials Science and Engineering
Xunlu Wang
School of Environmental Science and Technology
Hongbo Zhu
Institute of Genetics and Crop Breeding, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University
Junqing Ma
Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jintao Xu
School of Physics, Central South University 1 , Changsha 410083,
Yihong Liu
Lijia Liu
Department of Chemistry, Western University, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON N6A5B7, Canada
Wei Chen
Hui Bi
Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Minghui Yang
School of Environmental Science and Technology
Fuqiang Huang
Key Laboratory of Intelligent Creation for Extreme Energy Materials of Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering and Zhang Jiang Institute for Advanced Study
Tore Brinck
Department of Chemistry, CBH
Jiacheng Wang
Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Island Green Energy and New Materials, Institute of Electrochemistry, School of Materials Science and Engineering