Authors:

Arnia Goode

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About Paper:

Ammonia is an essential chemical for global food production, energy storage, and transportation. However, the dominant method of production, the Haber Bosch process, operates under extreme conditions of 400 - 500 °C and 100 - 300 bar, making it highly energy-intensive and carbon-emitting. To address these challenges, we are researching electrocatalytic pathways that enable sustainable ammonia production under milder conditions. One promising strategy involves electrochemical systems that convert N2 and water into NH3 using thermo-electrochemical protonic 27 ceramic reactors at intermediate temperatures (~400 °C) and ambient pressure. Such systems can enhance the kinetics of N≡N bond cleavage while avoiding the severe conditions of Haber-Bosch. This project focuses on the development of vanadium nitride-based materials, which have emerged recently as promising catalysts for nitrogen activation and ammonia formation. Over the summer, we focused on the synthesis of iron and nickel-doped vanadium nitride via hydrothermal routes and subsequent nitriding. These materials were structurally characterized to understand how transition metal doping influences their stability and reactivity. Experiments evaluated their ability to promote ammonia formation. In parallel, effort was dedicated to fabricating protonic ceramic electrochemical cells that will serve as electrochemical platforms for ammonia synthesis. Different methods for electrode-supported pellets were assessed (i.e., pellet pressing, rolling, and tape casting) to minimize porosity and enhance connectivity, thereby creating reliable functional devices for electrocatalysis. Together, the development of doped VN catalysts and the fabrication of protonic ceramic reactors represent a pathway toward efficient, scalable, and carbon-neutral ammonia synthesis, advancing efforts to decarbonize energy and industry.

Source:

Columbia / Mechanical Engineering / 2028

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Co-authors:

Arnia Goode