Abstract
AbstractAmmonia is not only the most important chemical for fertilizer production, it has also gained much interest as a future hydrogen storage material. Besides the well‐known Haber–Bosch process to generate ammonia from elemental sources, new ways to convert nitrogen into ammonia have been investigated in the last decade for a decentralized production, including electrocatalytic and photocatalytic approaches. However, photocatalysis in particular suffers from stagnating materials development and unstandardized reaction conditions. In this Review, we shine light on recent materials and reaction engineering results for photocatalytic nitrogen reduction, putting an emphasis on the need to connect the activity of reported materials together with detailed reaction conditions and efficiencies. Photocatalytic nitrogen reduction is an emerging field that will certainly gain significant interest in the future as a sustainable pathway to generate green hydrogen and ammonia. The field will certainly strongly benefit from joint efforts with strong interactions between chemists, physicists and chemical engineers at a fundamental level.
Highlights
Industrial ammonia production as first step of fertilizer production is the foundation to feed almost half of the global population (Figure 1).[1]
Production with reduced CO2 emissions through coupling to e. g. carbon capture and storage concepts, green ammonia production focusses on the production of hydrogen through electrolysis of water with renewable electrical energy or from biomass coupled to carbon capture and storage
From the literature survey it becomes obvious that current research efforts lack a systematic approach that ensures comparability between the various material approaches that are used for photocatalytic N2 conversion
Summary
Industrial ammonia production as first step of fertilizer production is the foundation to feed almost half of the global population (Figure 1).[1]. Ammonia is highly attractive as sustainable energy carrier that can be used in combustion engines as well as fuel cells. The direct use of solar irradiation for N2 conversion is a highly desirable but challenging approach.[4] Decentralized onsite production of ammonia for further conversion to fertilizers was identified as attractive concept that was economically feasible for photovoltaic powered production plants already in 2015.[5] Even more recent, the photocatalytic pathway has gained increasing attention, a research field that is in its infancies. A variety of photocatalytic materials is currently under research, raising issues to comparability and derivation of overarching insights. To fill this gap, this review analyses the ChemPhotoChem 2021, 5, 792 – 807. Current progress with respect to concepts of material development and reaction engineering
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