Copper 3D-Printed Electrodes for Ammonia Electrosynthesis via Nitrate Reduction

journal article in Web of Science

English

Ammonia is critical to the world economy. However, nowadays the production of ammonia is exclusively carried out by the well-known Haber-Bosch process, which is an energy-intensive process that leads to a large amount of CO2 emissions. The search for alternative ammonia production routes is mandatory for a sustainable and zero emissions future economy. Electrochemical nitrate-to-ammonia conversion emerges as a suitable alternative to achieve decentralized ammonia production at a small scale with zero emissions perspective. Here, we fabricate copper electrodes by a three-dimensional (3D) printing technique, which allows for the point-of-use customizable fabrication of electrochemical systems, and use them for nitrate-to-ammonia conversion. By using the fused fabrication filament printing technique, Cu-based electrodes were prepared in an easy, fast, and scalable way from a Cu-containing filament. The electrode was used for nitrate-to-ammonia conversion, obtaining an outstanding faradaic efficiency (FE) of 96.5% and a high ammonia selectivity of 95%. The fabrication of a copper-based electrochemical system for nitrate-to-ammonia conversion paves the way for an on-demand, point-of-use scalable electrochemical system for ammonia production.

ammonia synthesis; Cu electrodes; 3D printing; nitrate reduction; nanostructuring

PERALES RONDON, J.; ROJAS TIZÓN, J.; GAO, W.; PUMERA, M.

8. 5. 2023

American Chemical Society

WASHINGTON

2168-0485

ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering

11

18

United States of America

6923

6931

9

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c06851

http://hdl.handle.net/11012/213674