Abstract
A phosphonium salt speeds the delivery of protons and boosts the performance of an electrochemical Haber-Bosch process to record levels ( Science 2021, DOI: 10.1126/science.abg2371 ). The Haber-Bosch ammonia production process is one of the most important and energy-consuming chemical reactions in the world. If it could be done electrochemically , the process could be powered by renewable electricity. The electrochemical process directly reduces nitrogen to ammonia. It first activates dissolved nitrogen gas with lithium ions at the cathode, forming lithium nitride, an unstable, transient species. Then, protons produced at the anode replace lithium and convert lithium nitride to ammonia. For decades, this process has suffered from low efficiency and slowness. Bryan H. R. Suryanto, Alexandr N. Simonov , Douglas R. MacFarlane , and their colleagues at Monash University thought speeding the movement of protons from the anode to the cathode could improve ammonia production. Ethanol is the typical proton
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