IIT Jodhpur researchers design electrocatalysts to synthesize "Green Ammonia" as Fuel

Ammonia is one of the key elements in the fertilizer industry as well as in paper, textile, and rubber industries.

Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur researcher Dr. Amitava Banerjee along with his team has identified promising single-atom catalysts for Nitrogen Reduction Reaction (NRR) required for the synthesis of “Green Ammonia”.  At present, the conventional process of synthesizing green ammonia has an enormous carbon footprint, as it emits ~3% of global carbon dioxide and consumes ~2% of the world’s total energy production.

Electrochemical synthesis route could be a vital choice for its synthesis, where Nitrogen Reduction Reaction (NRR) is one of the hardest reactions to carry out due to the strong N-N triple bond coupled with poor nitrogen adsorption on many catalysts and presence of competitive hydrogen evolution reaction. So, the researchers focused on electrochemical NRR in order to synthesize “Green Ammonia”. 

Currently, the team is focusing on the design of electrocatalysts for green ammonia and green urea production. Both will have less or negligible carbon footprint compared to existing conventional processes. Urea is a vital compound for societal development and the high presence of 46% nitrogen (by weight) makes it a major player of the fertilizer industry. Ammonia is also one of the key elements in the fertilizer industry as well as in paper, textile, rubber industries.

Talking about the significance of the research, Dr. Amitava Banerjee, Assistant Professor, Department of Metallurgical & Materials Engineering, IIT Jodhpur, said, “The recent surge in interest in the electrochemical synthesis of NH₃ has highlighted the inadequacy of Nitrogen Reduction Reaction (NRR) catalysts. So, our group’s primary objective is to computationally design the NRR catalysts and providing insight for the experimentally obtained NRR catalytic mechanism.”

As an extension of the ongoing search for NRR catalysts, the group has also discovered in collaboration with a catalytic mechanism involving two different transition metals, in collaboration with Dr. Ghorai's group of Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamanidira, Belur Math.  This mechanism efficiently activates the nitrogen-nitrogen (N-N) triple bond and promotes the formation of carbon-nitrogen (C-N) bonds, ultimately leading to the production of environmentally friendly urea.

The future research target of the group is exploring electrochemical synthesis of ammonia from various nitrogenous pollutants. The lab at IIT Jodhpur working on the designing of electrocatalysts for synthesis of “Green Ammonia” and led by Dr. Amitava Banerjee is currently being funded by Science and Engineering Research Board, SERB (DST)-SRG.

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